How to be a Gardener - Episode Guide

Alan Titchmarsh with a back-to-basics series. He explains why soil, light and water are the three essentials for success.

Alan Titchmarsh demonstrates how even the most neglected garden can become a riot of colour in just three months with a handful of seeds and some tender loving care.

Alan Titchmarsh shows how to make a garden colourful and interesting all year round by using a full range of plants, including bulbs, perennials, trees, climbers and shrubs.

Alan Titchmarsh embarks on a mission to get a neglected garden under control, tackling overgrown shrubs and dispensing advice on different types of grass as he relays a lawn.

Alan Titchmarsh declares war on weeds, pests and diseases. He tackles the problems with an understanding as to why they happen and shows how to conquer them organically. 

Alan Titchmarsh demonstrates the satisfaction to be drawn from growing vegetables as he offers a step-by-step guide to setting up both a traditional vegetable patch and an ornamental one. 

Alan Titchmarsh outlines jobs to tackle month-by-month and explains why they are important to keep things under control, from mowing the lawn and mulching the beds and borders to preparing the compost heap. 

In the final back-to-basics horticultural guide of the series, Alan Titchmarsh sets about creating a border from scratch, explaining how and why design, texture and colour are so important.

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. 

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.