How to be a Gardener - Season 3

A garden is for life - not just a TV makeover - so Alan Titchmarsh returns to six of the gardens he created for his original back-to-basics series. All need attention, some more than others, but over a season he shows how to nurture them and get them to their best as mature, established gardens. This week, the family garden. 

A riot of colour came when Alan Titchmarsh transformed a small garden, using just a handful of annual seeds, in 2001. Four years on, he returns to rearrange the plants into a contemporary design. 

Is a small poky garden destined to stay that way for ever? Alan Titchmarsh returns to the plot he transformed in 2002, which is still growing and flourishing with the minimum of spade work. 

In 2002, Alan Titchmarsh created a pond from scratch. Returning to discover what's flourished, dried up or drowned, he shows how to bring it to its peak.

A mixed border created by Alan Titchmarsh in 2001 has turned into a tangle of dead twigs and overgrown pampas grass. Undaunted by such neglect, Alan attempts to return the patch to its former glory with the help of some secateurs. 

Poor soil and rampant weeds were no barrier when Alan Titchmarsh created a seemingly wild garden in 2002. In fact, the illusion was so successful that, two years later, foraging deer have moved in. Undaunted, he embarks on a spring clean.