Have you ever wondered how Garden Rescue is filmed and how long it takes? If so, then this guide is for you. As a presenter on Garden Rescue for nearly 5 years, I will explain how the show works, how the contributors are chosen, how long the build takes, how we design the sets, plant selection, and how we film the show. I’ll then show you how you can apply to be on the show yourself!
Grab a brew, and let’s peek behind the curtain on the BBC’s popular gardening show, Garden Rescue!
Garden Rescue, the BBC’s most popular garden makeover show, is quite a complex show in terms of logistics. The show has many moving parts, from finding the contributors to designing and building the gardens, and then revealing them. Let’s look at the steps behind the scenes of Garden Rescue.
The first step is for the production company to vet all public applications.
This step involves interviews and chats with applicants whose gardens meet feasibility criteria (only gardens under a certain size can be chosen, as they are all built in 2 days) and offer something interesting for the public, e.g., a story or garden trouble.
If you want to apply for Garden Rescue, please visit this page here.
(Please note that I have no involvement in this part of the process, so I am offering this information so you can get in touch with the team that does.)
The real design process starts with the trusty garden survey of Garden Rescue applicants. This helps us designers design to scale and turn around so many designs each year. Given that we don’t visit the gardens until we get there for the build, the survey is the keystone in the whole process.
Scaled surveys are prepared, and numerous pictures and videos are collated so we designers can have a ‘virtual walkaround’ of the garden and surrounding space.
It’s a closely guarded secret how the designer pairings are determined on Garden Rescue. Each year, there’s a slightly different ratio of whether I’m paired with Charlie Dimmock, Chris Hull or Flo Hedlam. It’s part of the show we never get told about, except for the production team deciding who will do which gardens. I guess it’s totally random, looking at the garden design briefs I’ve had on the show over the years.
The design packs consist of:
This is where the challenge really starts with Garden Rescue. If I’m filming around 20 gardens a year, I have roughly six weeks to get all the designs costed, approved, and drawn up and painted. It’s a challenge. Luckily, this happens early in the year, around February, when the gardening world is still relatively quiet. This means there is a flurry of design activity at the start of the year.
Like in the real world of garden design, scaled costings are drawn up first, known as the concept stage. Once the project managers have approved these as feasible and on budget, it’s time to draw up the final 3D render or visual, known in garden design terms as the final proof or design. I also undertake my own brief using the process I’ve detailed here, which you can apply to your own gardens.
The pitching of the designs, the bit you see on TV where the applicants watch us explain our choices for them, happens in UK locations. I tend to film mine in batches, doing a number each day. This is why you can see me in the same clothes for continuity. These pitches are then cut down and sent to the contributors at the same time, along with the final designs. They then get a limited time to choose the final design; the duration varies each year. However, they get both designs to consider simultaneously and then choose.
We designers then find out live during the filming of the pitch reveals, as we sit around the design board. This creates a real-life reaction to whether we have won or lost the design.
The next step is for the landscaper project managers to order and source materials for the winning design, ready for the filming date. The filming dates are set in advance, and the designs are drawn up in orderfromf earliestto latestc.
I tend to keep my specific wants quite fluid to make it easier for the build team. So, rather than specifying a very specific type of stone, I will give a few similar options to make this part of the process a bit easier.
The same happens with plants; we have a horticultural expert who sources the plants we request. Other than a few must-have exceptions, I have a rolling list of plant alternatives for each scheme to get the best plants rather than sending them on a wild goose chase for a particular plant that may have gone over or be out of stock at nurseries. I will give the team as much notice as possible if there is anything in particular. I usually source a supplier for this in advance. That’s the Garden Ninja approach!
Choosing the plants is my favourite part of the design process, as it breathes life into the gardens. I like to provide a mix of plants that suit the contributor’s experience level, along with some unusual specimens to test their skills a bit further. It’s great working with other horticulturalists at this stage, as you all learn from each other and often find plants you’ve never worked with along the way!
Garden Rescues’ build phase is filmed over two days from start to finish. Let’s examine each day in more detail.
This is the landscapers’ first visit to the site. Day one involves stripping out anything that will be removed or changed. It also involves starting any of the complex build work that needs time to set or settle, such as patios, foundations, structures, or buildings.
The designs are marked out in spray line, and then the amazing team get to work laying it all out.
This is also known as the presenter day, as the presenters arrive! Day 2 is more frantic than the first day, as everything must be finished to reveal (in daylight hours). Structures and landscaping are finished, and planting begins, all while presenting the journey and progress of the garden. You often find yourself starting one thing and presenting on it before someone else takes over, and we move on to another area.
The day 2 builds are a herculean effort by everyone. Garden Rescue is the epitome of teamwork, with people asking, ‘Do you need me to take over that so you can do X?’
Everyone multitasks and works incredibly hard. The entire team, including production staff, is willing to jump onto any task they can while avoiding cameras and getting caught while someone is resetting a shot.
One huge team effort is the planting, where everybody gets involved, especially if there are hundreds of plants to plant in each design and water lovingly! The day 2 builds run on goodwill, enthusiasm, adrenaline, caffeine, and carbohydrates, making for the best of reveals!
The first question I get asked all the time is, ‘Are they real?’
The answer is yes.
The contributors haven’t seen the garden over the 2 days of build with the windows papered over. So when we do the reveal, it is a true live reaction to the finished result.
You can feel the tension and excitement among the applicants before they open their eyes to the reveal of Garden Rescue, which makes the process even more exciting for us presenters!
Garden Rescue is filmed a year in advance. So the new shows you see each year were filmed the year before. This shows the number of moving parts in the show and the time spent editing it. This is why when we presenters are asked about gardens that have just been on TV, we may scratch our heads a bit as we’re onto the next set of episodes!
The minimum budget for Garden Rescue is £3000. This is the minimum amount to create a decent garden makeover in the series’s smaller gardens. Anything less than this, and the reveal will be too subtle to make the cut for TV. This figure has been set as the minimum to make a lasting difference to the gardens that apply for the show.
The contributors or applicants pay for the materials and plants. So if a garden has a budget of £6000, this money goes towards materials for hard landscaping, including raw materials like sand, cement, stone, and sundries like screws, fixings, wood glue, nails, etc. It also covers plants, trees, shrubs, lawns, and any accessories the designer has factored in, like furniture or a new BBQ.
The designers’ design fees, the landscapers’ labour, and the team building the garden are not covered. These costs would significantly increase the budget, which is at least double in most cases.
You don’t need to apply to Garden Rescue to create the garden of your dreams. Why not take on my online courses and learn the tricks I use to create beautiful green spaces with my Beginners Garden Design online course?
The online course provides step-by-step tuition from me, Lee Burkhill, an award-winning garden designer and presenter on BBC1’s Garden Rescue.
This course will take you from a beginner to a confident garden designer, no matter what garden or green space you face. I’ll train you in design principles, planting techniques, design styles, and layout options, all of which will prepare you to become a new garden designer.
Cost of Course: £199
Garden Design Examples for Small Gardens: 30 Design Templates & Planting Plans: In this online gardening course, I’ll walk you through 30 fantastic garden designs, explaining the logic behind the layout, the plant choices, and take-home tips for applying them in your own garden.
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Garden Design for Beginners Online Course: If you want to make the career jump to becoming a garden designer or to learn how to design your own garden, this is the beginner course for you. Join me, Lee Burkhill, an award-winning garden designer, as I train you in the art of beautiful garden design.
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So there we go—a behind-the-scenes look at how Garden Rescue is filmed and organised each year. From choosing the applicants to drawing up the designs, the show is a work of art behind the scenes. Every team member pulls out all the stops to make this show happen, especially with the tight deadlines.
If you’re enjoying the show, I would love to hear from you below or on social media, where you can Tweet, Facebook or Instagram me. Or let me know below what you took away from the experience! You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel for hundreds of garden design tips, tricks, and hack guides!
Happy Designing!
Lee Burkhill, known as the Garden Ninja, is an award-winning garden designer and horticulturist with over 30 years of gardening experience and 15 years as a professional garden designer. A qualified RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) professional, Lee specialises in sustainable garden design and practical horticultural advice. He designs and presents on BBC1’s Garden Rescue and in leading gardening publications. Lee combines three decades of hands-on gardening knowledge with professional design qualifications to help gardeners create beautiful, functional outdoor spaces.
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Thank you, This was really interesting seeing how garden rescue works in detail. I have applied as we have a large boring grass garden in the Staffordshire Moorlands We would like a wildlife friendly garden for hedgehogs our wildlife pond and our bees. so unlikely we would be chosen, as most gardens seem to be on housing estates and and want Mediterranean gardens, but we live in hope. The program is really useful though for getting ideas. I particularly like your gardens and Charlie’s. Keep up the great work 😊my wildflowers patch is coming along nicely thanks to your videos. Chris
14:47Thanks so much Chris! It’s brilliant to hear your wildflower patch is thriving, that’s exactly what we love to see. The Staffordshire Moorlands sounds like a fantastic location for a wildlife garden, and your focus on hedgehogs, bees and your existing pond is exactly the kind of project that makes for compelling telly. Don’t sell yourself short on the application front either. Whilst we do feature plenty of urban gardens, the show absolutely loves a good wildlife brief, and having that moorland setting could work really well visually.
The producers are always looking for diverse locations and genuine passion for wildlife gardening, which you clearly have in spades.
I’m chuffed you’re enjoying the ideas from the show, and thank you for the lovely words about my designs and Charlie’s work. We try to create gardens that inspire people to have a go themselves, so hearing that you’re already cracking on with wildflowers is exactly what it’s all about. Keep us posted on how your garden develops, and fingers crossed for your Garden Rescue application. Even if it doesn’t come off this time round, you’re already well on your way to creating something special for your local wildlife. Keep up the great work yourself, and thanks for watching!
Lee