Garden Rescue Series 5 Episode 3

Garden Rescue Series 5 Episode 3

In this episode of Garden Rescue Series 5, Episode 3 the Garden Designers are Charlie Dimmock and The Rich Brothers, Harry and David Rich.

Their mission this week is to transform the garden of Canadian born Opera Singer Catherine and Comic Book Artist Christian, baby Olive and dog Thor in Shrewsbury.

The garden was very overgrown when they bought the house 2 years ago and they have managed to clear it but its far from finished!


Catherine, Christian and Olive

They are both new to gardening so they need help taming it.

The garden already has a fairy tale vibe and this is something they want to expand on in the garden design.

Garden before
Garden before

There is a folly with a gothic window and that whole area is overgrown.

The couple want space to dine and entertain in the garden as well as room for Thor and for Olive to play, explore and hunt for bugs.

The budget is £5,000.


The Garden
Charlie and The Rich Brothers arrive to see the 100 foot long garden for the first time and to get some inspiration from the family for their designs.


Charlie spots the folly at the end of the garden straight away and thinks its romantic and
fairy tale.

Garden before

Nature has taken over the garden they all agree.


The Rich Brothers look round the house and love all the original features like the fireplace but also the modern twists.

Charlie tells Catherine and Christian how much she loves the garden.

The couple tell her they have quite unconventional style and like quirky.


Garden before

The seating / entertaining area they would like to be modern and want a reason to wander to the end of the garden as they only use one part at the moment.

Charlie sums it up as 'quirky, modern, fairies'.


The Plans and Pitch
The garden Designers now go away and put all their ideas and inspiration into their magical designs using the £5,000 budget.

The money is spent on materials and all the labour from the landscaping team and the Designers is not included.

The Rich Brothers Design
Their design is like a trek through the garden with winding paths full of nature.

The Rich Brothers Plan

By the house there is a open space for dining and entertaining and it gets wilder the further you go into the garden.

They have include large pads of concrete with planting in between by the seating area to form the path, giving the illusion it has 'run wild'.


The Rich Brothers Plan

For Olive the main area is a safe place for her to play with an open glade with Elderflowers growing at the side they can use for cordial.

They want to include produce in the garden.

For the end of the garden the Rich Brothers want to add some dwarf apple trees, making a orchard and a natural willow hut for Olive to play in.

Charlie Dimmock Design
Her design divides the garden into 3 spaces, an entertainment area, a lawn area in the middle and a secret garden at the end for Olive.

Charlie Dimmock plan

Charlie has picked modern paving for the seating area but with hardwood decking leading on from it.

She wants to add a Magnolia as a feature tree.

Charlie Dimmock plan

She has left a good size lawn for running about on and has included a herb bed and peach tree along the fence.

Charlie says the end of the garden is her favourite bit and she plans an archway entrance into a secret garden with mounds, stepping stones and Olives own sunken deck area for play and seating.

The couple now mull over the merits of both designs before choosing one for their garden.

The Rich Brothers Plan with Catherine, Christian

And the winning design is ...... The Rich Brothers

A Work in Progress
The Landscape Team of Gruff Russell Harris, Kyle Haynes, Tristan Brice, Ben Winter and Project Manager Andy Land arrive and start by having a look at the boys plans.

The landscape team

Tectonic plates of concrete, brings comments of 'a bit of work then' and 'we're moving heaven and earth'.

They start on the patio area which has a total cost of £750.00 for the floating concrete plates and main patio area.

A digger makes light work of clearing the area and the bit in the middle that is to be the lawn.

Frames are made for the patio and the plates and this is filled with concrete.

Charlie Dimmock and The Rich Brothers

Harry and David Rich and Charlie Dimmock arrive to see the progress in the garden and to pitch in to get the design completed.

Charlie with her lack of a romantic bone in her body (her words) gets put to work in the romantic part of the garden at the end.

The Brothers are doing the Tectonic patio area and planting.

Patio

There is now a huge seating / entertaining area that looks very man made but as you go further into the garden it becomes more wild and natural.

They are going to add shrubs down the middle of the paths to enclose the seating area and give it more privacy.

They are keeping a lot of the shrubs in the lawn area.

As you get to the end of the garden it gets a lot wilder and the orchard will add to the wild effect.

Charlie Dimmock

Charlie hacks back some of the weeds and there are lots of plants already in garden like Peonies, a Buddleja Globosa with its unusual orange flowers  and sweet Chestnut.

The Rich Brothers are working out the planting pockets between their concrete pads to make a meandering path through the plants.

The Rich Brothers Plan

The central bed is creating 2 pathways to the lawn and beyond the right hand one is more direct and accessible and the left hand one is has more stepping stones of concrete and is more fun.

In the secret Garden with Charlie and David agree that the stray willow will look great weaved into an archway.

They decide to make a clearing near the wall of the Folly for a den and also to see the Rose that is already there.

Harry Rich

Harry is designing a bespoke table and chairs for the patio area.

He is using the inspiration from the concrete Tectonic patio to create a concrete topped dining table.

Harry is reusing the frame work from the patio and making strong trestle legs to hold the weight of the concrete top.

David is giving the existing plants on the right of the garden a tidy up, there are lilac trees and Ivy along the fence line but a small Spirea and Euonymus has to come out.

Charlie Dimmock

Charlie busy training the rose to climb along the wall and she has added a mirror to give it an enchanted look.

David and Harry Rich

Compost is added to the new planting beds down the middle of the paths and add 3 silver Birch Trees.

Harry says its good to have planting that conceals views within the garden, by adding Hazel, Viburnum and Hawthorn will create that intimacy.

For Olive the central lawn area is being laid to make a safe place to run around, for 65 square meters the cost was £200.

Charlie Dimmock and The Rich Brothers

Harry is adding concrete to the top of the table, which will be smoothed out and when dry the framework will be removed.

To stop cracks they are adding Rebars to reinforce it.

Charlie Dimmock

Charlie is making Masks for the Secret Garden, very scary!

The bound gravel pathway is laid at a cost of £800.

David Rich

To make the willow den it is the wrong time of year so they are planting willow sticks then covering it with Ivy,

David ties the tops together and weaves some struts before planning the Ivy to climb all over it.

plants

Next small job is to plant the £500 worth of plants, they have kept the planting very native and natural.

They have chosen a few ornamental varieties like Sambucus Nigra 'Black Lace' which is related to Elderflower. 

Sambucus Nigra 'Black Lace'

Charlie is planting it in a dry part of the garden with lots of Ivy but it will thrive in these conditions.

Harry is planting 4 apple trees at the end of the lawn by the Secret Garden these cost £100.

Charlie Dimmock

Charlie starts of her willow whip arch and she literally winds them together at the top, so quick 'zoom zoom zoom' as she crawl through the small arch.

The Gravel paths are compacted.

Harry Rich

They lift the heavy concrete table into position and take off the boards from the cement top.

At the end of the garden they put down some bark chippings to keep the grass and weeds down and put down a picnic blanket.

Harry is planting between the concrete plates using low growing plants that will spill over the path.

Epimedium

He plants  Deer Fern, Epimedium, grasses and geraniums.

A large Field Maple costing £150 is planted it is single stemmed and no foliage below 2 metres so it forms a nice canopy.

Charlie Dimmock and The Rich Brothers

Harry and Charlie put their feet up and enjoy the new seating area whilst David does the watering. Charlie wants a cuppa, although she may get water!


The Reveal
Catherine and Christian open your eyes

Open your eyes

'Oh my god' 'oh my god' 'oh wow' 'oh my god' 'it's beautiful' 'look at that' hugs all round. 'thanks for all your hard work' 'fantastic its amazing I love how the planting goes into it' 'it looks really modern but just like its kind of sprung out the garden'

Catherine says 'there is now a journey down the garden you want to go on'

The Rich Brothers take them on a tour of their new garden with huge beaming smile of delight

Finished garden

The enchanted garden with seating area.

Finished garden

Windy paths of tectonic concrete stepping stones lead pass islands of planting.

Finished garden

A new lawn area with mini orchard.

A secret garden

Finished garden

Willow den

Finished garden

Rose covered folly

Now its Baby Olive turn to see her enchanted garden and Thor the dog sets off to explore.

All Photos Copyright BBC.com


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