Gardening Together with Diarmuid Gavin Episode 1

In this first Episode of Gardening Together with Diarmuid Gavin we are welcomed into Diarmuid Gavin garden in Bray, Co Wicklow.

What a great start to a programme, LP on the stereo, 'here comes the sun' plays,  Pot of coffee brewing and Diarmuid heading out into the garden to enjoy it all.

He tells us about how important the garden has been to so many this year and this programme will get us all 'Gardening Together'.

Gardening Together with Diarmuid Gavin

Gardening Together with Diarmuid Gavin was first shown on RTE One and BBC One Northern Ireland on 17 July 2020.

Diarmuid Gavin has been missing from our screens as a gardener for too long and his new programme invites us into his own garden.

His garden in Bray Co Wicklow will undergo a lockdown transformation during this 6 part series.

The Instant Gardener Series 1 Episode 4

The Instant Gardener is Danny Clarke Garden Designer, who with the help of Helen Skelton and the Team, show us how to transform a problem garden, on a budget in just 1 day.

Today they are in Earls Barton near Northampton to help transform the garden of Lydia, Aydin Guclo and their sons Finlay and  Mavi 

6 Year old Mavi suffers from terrible hayfever and allergies so they want a low pollen, low allergy garden for the whole family to be safe in together.

Diarmuid Gavin

Diarmuid Gavin is an Award Winning Garden Designer, Author TV Presenter on various Garden Makeover programmes like Homefront, Filthy Gardens and Garden Rescue.

Diarmuid was born on 10 May 1964 in London to Irish parents Joan and Jack he was brought up in Dublin, Ireland from one month old. His father John died in 2011. Diarmuid was the second oldest of 5 children, 2 brothers and 2 sisters.


Tragedy struck at a young age in his family in 1971, when aged just 6 he witnessed  his younger 5 year old brother Conor being killed by a car on the way to school.

Following this he became a shy and lonely, withdrawn child in a family that was suffering from this terrible loss. 

Diarmuid  would build dens with his sisters and started his own garden on some waste land after shunning his parents conventional suburban garden style.


Diarmuid grew into a socially shy adult, a dreamer and deep thinker and his loss made him very close to his family and the importance of the family.

He was not academic and was happy to leave school with just a few qualifications.




After working for a Garden Centre and Florist Diarmuid studied Amenity Horticulture at the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, Dublin.

He then worked as a gardener with his own business Gardens by Design and struggled to make ends meet.




Diarmuid potential to be on the television was spotted in 1995 at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show following an interview with Alan Titchmarsh.


In 1996 Diarmuid was to start his TV gardener career on Homefront a makeover show with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Anne Mckevitt.

Homefront in the Garden was hosted by Teresa Shaw and also featured Kevin McCloud.


Diarmuid Gavin then appeared on several Gardening Programmes both in Northern Ireland and for the Rest of the United Kingdom.


Diarmuid after a break from appearing on our Televisions as a Gardener / Garden Designer  appeared on Channel 5 Garden competition The Great Gardening Challenge as a Judge.


Diarmuid Gavin programme on Irish Television Gardening Together with Diarmuid Gavin was shown  in July 2020 on BBC Northern Ireland made during the Covid-19 Lockdown then on the BBC iplayer.

In 2021 Diarmuid became the Presenter of a new type of garden makeover show Filthy Garden SOS which saw Diarmuid along with Danny Clarke and Penny Lamb turn over run and derelict gardens into easy manageable dream gardens with the help of the homeowner.


Diarmuid Gavin has a new programme for 2026 Greatest Gardens with Diarmuid Gavin and Carol Klein but this is not the first time Diarmuid has been in this programme.

In 2017 Diarmuid Gavin was in Greatest Garden with Helen Dillonare who is a Scottish and Irish Garden designer and the programme went round Northern Ireland Gardens looking for the Greatest one of 2017.

For 2026 Diarmuid Gavin is joined by Plant expert Carol Klein and a different Guest Judge  each week who are also keen Gardeners and they are Prue Leith, Patrick Grant, Penny Lancaster, Katie Piper and Fred Sireix.

The first 5 episodes they tour round and judge 3 gardens each episode and the winning garden goes through to the grand final in week 6 and then they reveal Northern Irelands Greatest Garden.

Diarmuid Gavin is to join one of the biggest garden Makeover programmes in 2026 Garden Rescue as a Garden Designer.

For Garden Rescue 2026 Series 11 he will be joining the existing Team of Garden Designers, Charlie Dimmock, Lee Burkhill, Flo Headlam and Chris Hull.

Joining Diarmuid Gavin For Garden Rescue 2026 Series 11 to directly compete against the existing Garden Designers to have the winning Garden Design are Frances Tophill, Joe Swift and Sue Kent.

Diarmuid Gavin has appeared in all sorts of non gardening programmes, most recently Living with Lucy in 2025, but he has been in Come Dine with Me, Strictly Come Dancing, Only Fools and Horses, Splash and The Chase to name a few.

I will only be listing the Gardening Programmes below.

As well as writing several books, Diarmuid also writes gardening columns for newspapers and magazines.

Diarmuid lives Co Wicklow with his wife Justine Keane whom he married in 1995 after he they met when he was working in her parents garden. 

They have a daughter Eppie, who has absolutely no interest in gardening and a dog called Bowie.


Diarmuid Gavin Awards

Royal Dublin Society
Gold 
Gold

RHS Chelsea Flower Show
1995 - Bronze
1996

2004
Silver-gilt

2007
Westland Garden - Silver-Gilt

2011
Irish Sky Garden - Gold

2012
Magical Tower Garden

2016
Harrods British Eccentric Garden

Diarmuid Gavin Television Programmes 

1996
Homefront


1997 - 2000
Homefront in the Garden

1999
The Answer Lies in the Soil

2000
Real Rake-Overs

2000
RHS Chelsea Flower Show


2001
Planet Patio


2004
Art of the Garden


2004
Gardens Through Time


2007
Gardeners' World

2011
I Want a Garden


2014
Great British Garden Revival

2017

Greatest Gardens

2019
The Great Gardening Challenge

2020

Gardening Together with Diarmuid Gavin

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

2021

Filthy Garden SOS

Episode 1  Amber and Shona from Bangor

Episode 2  Keith & Darren from Stockport

Episode 3 Michael & Becky from Seaham

Episode 4 Olwyn & Ryan from White City, West London

Episode 5  Andy, Kirsten, Theo & Arthur from Horsforth, Yorkshire


2023

Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh

2026

Greatest Gardens with Diarmuid Gavin and Carol Klein

Garden Rescue 2026 Series 11


Diarmuid Gavin Books 

2000
Homefront in the Garden

2001
Homefront Inside Out
With Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen

2001
Planet Patio

2002
Big Ideas from Homefront in the Garden

2003
Outer Spaces

2004
Design Your Garden
with Richard Lee

2004
Gardens through time: Celebrate 200 Years of Gardening with the RHS
With Jane Owen

2007
Outdoors
With Sir Terence Conran

2009
Planting: The Planting Design Book for the Twenty-First Century
With Sir Terence Conran

2016
The Extra Room

Autobiography
2010
How the Boy Next Door Turned Out.


Diarmuid Gavin Website  Facebook Twitter  Instagram

The Instant Gardener Series 1 Episode 3

The Instant Gardener is Danny Clarke Garden Designer, who with the help of Helen Skelton and the Team, show us how to transform a problem garden, on a budget in just 1 day.

Today they are in  Basingstoke to help mother of 5, Tania Reid who wants a safe, accident proof, child friendly space for the whole family to relax in and enjoy.

Tania is a single mum with children ranging in age from 17 years old to 7 months who used to work as a carer but is now retraining to run her own care agency. So the busy mum has had little time for the garden.

Grow Your Own At Home With Alan Titchmarsh Episode 6

In the final episode of Grow Your Own At Home it is time to see all the hard work of the previous 5 episodes and to add a few finishing touches to the gardens.

Alan Titchmarsh has been sharing his garden in Hampshire with us, aided by his wife Alison AKA  Mrs T, chief Camera Operator.

The Love Your Garden Team of David Domoney, Katie Rushworth and Frances Tophill have also been letting us join them in their homes and gardens to see how they can grow more at home during the Covid-19 Lockdown.