You’ve seen the show, now check out what happens behind the scenes!

(Missed it? Watch it on ITVPlayer now!) 

TV Times journalist and photographer on set of Love Your Garden

These are the guys from TV Times that came over to interview us. I hope you all picked up a copy – it was a brilliant article and had some great photography to go with it!

 

Mud on site Love Your Garden makeover Series 4 episode 3

Here’s a photo of just what we were up against on site. It rained non-stop and the soil quickly turned to sticky mud. Not only does it make everything damp, cold and miserable, but it’s also really slippy, which slows everything down. It’s just not a comfortable thing, so we removed it when the rain stopped.

 

David Domoney on set of Love your Garden in the rain

This is how wet I was.

 

Ben and Natalie stuck in mud on site Love your Garden ITV

Here is Ben with Natalie, who has got her foot stuck in the mud! It had rained constantly and turned to sticky mud! The first day on site is usually a nightmare trying to get the groundwork in. It’s just as chaotic as it looks.

 

Natalie Frosts Landscapes Love Your Garden on set

Natalie is also quite a good stylist, and put some of that troublesome mud to good use – by making a mud face of Martyn. I think the resemblance is striking!

 

Love Your Garden cameraman filming TV ITV

Here’s Ben really getting down and dirty! Everyone gets caked in mud on Love Your Garden. Here he is getting those important shots under the decking framework, where we’re going to put the hot tub.

 

Soil removed from garden in Love Your Garden makeover episode 3

This is a good indication of how much soil we took out of that garden! We ended up shipping out a good ten bags full. We moved tons and tons and tons of soil. It was just so muddy. Unfortunately, it was my suggestion that we take it out, which didn’t make me very popular!

 

Fresh soil in garden in Love Your Garden makeover

And here is the fresh soil we brought back into the garden. We put about ten bags worth of topsoil and four bags of mushroom compost back into the garden. It was hard work, but the plants will thank us for it!

 

Shot with mud and wheelbarrow by Frosts Landscapes on Love Your Garden

Here’s how the shot was done with the mud in the wheelbarrow. As you can see, Kevin from Frosts is pushing the wheelbarrow, and the camera is actually sat in the mud! Luckily, it’s not an expensive piece of kit, right…?

 

Alan Titchmarsh ITV Love Your Garden planting plants

Here’s a shot of Alan to show how you’re never alone on Love Your Garden. When you’re digging, eight or nine people are standing watching you.

Alan was getting a lot of stick for his super clean wellies! But it turned out that his old wellies, which were covered in years’ worth of mud, are currently in the Garden Museum near Lambeth. So it wasn’t that he had been skiving off! He’s busy breaking those new ones in now.

 

Katie Rushworth planting on Love Your Garden episode 3

Here’s a shot from where I am, digging in plants in the corner. I can see Katie across the garden in the rain, starting to plant up one of the first raised borders. It always feels like an uphill struggle when the first border goes in, because you realise just how much planting there is still to do.

 

Frances Tophill and Katie Rushworth on Love Your Garden in the rain

This is a great photo of Katie and Frances. Katie has just heard the bad news – we’re going to have to work until at least 9pm tonight to get everything done! She doesn’t look very happy about it.

 

David Domoney Love Your Garden special mug for tea and coffee

But it’s not all bad – I got a special mug. Cheers, guys!

 

Steve and Phil on Love Your Garden build and makeover

Here is a fantastic shot. We’re just doing the handover when we let the family into the finished garden. Steve in the background is drenched to the skin, and this cheeky chappy is producer Phil telling me to stop taking photos for the blog and enjoy the party! I hope you appreciate the sacrifices I make for you, dear readers.

 

Alan Titchmarsh ITV1 Love Your Garden meeting deserving family for garden makeover

Here’s Alan and the family – everyone wants a photo with him! Alan stays behind when the garden is finished to take hundreds of snaps and selfies with the family, their friends and relatives, and the neighbours. He’s always very accommodating and the family were very deserving of such a great makeover.