How to be a Gardener - Season 2

In tonight's opening episode Alan Titchmarsh explains what to keep and what to discard in the garden. Plus some tricks of the trade that the professional designers would prefer were kept secret.

Tonight's guide to building a family garden features ten essential plants no garden should be without, plus laying a patio that's guaranteed to be steady.

Alan Titchmarsh shows how to create an old-fashioned family garden free of water features and decking, including a guide to which plants to choose and why they are easy to grow. 

A healthy pond can bring whole new sonic and aesthetic dimensions to a garden. Alan Titchmarsh dons waders as he explains how to create and maintain the perfect natural pond, and his aqualung to rescue and return a fetid water feature to its former glory. 

Is there hope for a garden with limited dimensions? Presenter Alan Titchmarsh employs design tricks calling on curves, colours and textures to create the illusion of space and proves that plants can have a dramatic effect if they are arranged in the correct fashion.

Alan Titchmarsh shows how to get round the problem of daily watering in summer by choosing plants that originate from hotter climes which have inbuilt ways to hold on to moisture, from hairy silver leaves to spiky foliage.

Too little attention to the garden can spoil the owner's enjoyment of their patch. Alan Titchmarsh shows how to save time with maintenance-reducing plants and design, as well as offering tips on grass, weeds and gadgets.

In this final programme Alan Titchmarsh re-creates the rambling splendour of the British countryside with an informal design and a carefully chosen selection of plants. While wild flowers and traditional hedgerow plants are unsuitable for a traditional domestic garden, there are distant cousins that give superb results.