Dust off the patio cushions, clean down the barbecue and stock up on tealights - Super Garden is back on our screens tonight and bringing oodles of garden inspiration, just in time for summer.
Now in its 14th year, the hit show follows five garden designers who have never had a garden at Ireland's premier garden show Bord Bia Bloom, as they compete to design and create a garden with a budget of €15,000.
The winner of Super Garden gets to recreate their garden at Bord Bia Bloom, where it will represent the sponsors Woodie’s DIY and Dulux Exteriors. This year's show is held in Untangling, Co Meath, a brand-new development called Lagore Lawn which has been built by Meath Co Council for social housing.
The green-thumbed hopefuls will be watched over by judges Gary Graham for Bord Bia Bloom, Brian Burke for Woodies and Monica Alvarez for Dulux Exteriors, who told RTÉ Lifestyle she loved the sense of competition among the gardeners.
"There is a lovely sense of competition, I have to say, in the housing estate, also from the point of view of the homeowners, to see who would be the best garden of all."
Alvarez noted that gardeners this year are focusing on small but impactful designs that pack a punch, which are representative of gardens all across the country.
"Everybody's concentrating a lot on what you can see from inside the house and that view and creating that extra room in the garden", she said. She added that taking into account the size of a garden is her first port of call when it comes to design tips.
"Because normally the typical size of a garden in Ireland would be small enough that you can see all the boundaries in one go, I would say start with the boundaries, pay attention to what they look like. If you don't frame your garden, everything that you do inside sort of doesn't make sense."
She's just as practical about how we'll likely spend our time in our gardens this summer: "Allocate a space that has some sort of a cover, because in this weather, in this country, you need to be able to enjoy the garden even when it's raining, and not having to jump straight away out of the chair."
If you want to bring some personality into your garden, Alvarez suggested working in the "best aspect of nature that motivates you. Whether it's the prairie landscape, whether it's the mountains, whether it's the sea, whatever it is that motivates you, bring some of that to be the pictures in your garden as a theme so that you feel that you're on holidays, nearly".
When it comes to planting flowers, Alvarez said starting with a raised bed is a safe bet for a few reasons: "You will be more inclined to work on it without feeling overwhelmed by weeds or things like that. Also you're inclined to work on something that is of good height for not having problems with your back or bending."
She added: "It brings it at eye level so that when you're sitting in your patio or even in your kitchen or sitting room or whatever, you're looking out the window, sitting at the table, and you see in front of you the actual lovely flowers without having to stand up and looking down on the ground."
As for what plants to sow now for maximum reward with minimal effort, Alvarez pointed to Verbena bonariensis: "It's almost like it paints itself in the air because it is carried by long stems."
Aliums are another strong choice, a hardy plant that's seen in Bloom every year because it comes up around the beginning of June, when the festival takes place. Persicaria, a delicate pink flowering plant, is another option, which gives blooms for "six months at least".
Bloom celebrates Irish-grown plants and crops, and native Irish plants are an inspiring and hardy bet for novice gardeners. Alvarez suggested growing Arbutus unedo, a strawberry tree, with a "lovely small little leaf, but it has a strawberry-like berry that is very pretty and a pendulum, bell-shaped white flower".
"Hawthorne is just incredibly good for wildlife and pollinators and it creates like a lovely hedge if you didn't prune it too much."
Proving that gardening is the gift that keeps on giving, and with wedding season fast approaching, Alvarez offered suggestions on what flowers to grow if you're planning on making your own wedding bouquet.
"Zantedeschia and it gives you a lovely white lily-type flower at this time of the year, which would be amazing for bouquets. And then the typical baby spread that people buy in the florist. In fact, it's called gypsophila and you can grow it in Irish gardens. It's very easy to grow. It's a herbaceous perennial, so if you were to grow those two, you couldn't go wrong."
Watch Super Garden on Thursday at 7pm on RTÉ One.
