crayford

Find out about what plants are best for butterflies as gardening expert Chris Beardshaw shows Nick Knowles some of the highlights of Betty's garden. Plus, surveillance footage of the wildlife that was attracted to the Crayford garden after the team worked their magic.

• Video 1 - Planting for butterflies
• Video 2 - Wildlife surveillance (Crayford)

The series kicks off in a small back garden in Crayford, Kent. It's the kind of garden many of us have - a manicured lawn with narrow borders around the edges. It's home to Betty, a lovely lady who can't understand why she never sees butterflies these days. She's put up bird feeders but isn't attracting any of our feathered friends. In fact she misses wildlife so much she's gathered a menagerie of plastic animals to fill the gap.

The Wild About Your Garden crew are on a mission to attract the real thing into Betty's garden. It's the ultimate reverse make over as the garden has to go backwards before it can go forwards. They rip out over ten tons of concrete and crazy paving to make way for hundreds of plants plus fourteen fully mature trees, one which weighs as much as a couple of cars! And while they're there wildlife specialist Ellie Harrison realises the team can help save Britain's most endangered mammal; the water vole - although Betty might need some convincing as she thinks they look like rats.

See the garden in 360 degrees

Explore the finished Crayford garden in all its glory by dragging your way around the panoramic image below. You can also view it full screen.

The garden plan

Take a look at Chris Beardshaw's hand drawn plan for the Crayford garden as featured in the programme. Click the image to view it full screen.

The long tongues of butterflies mean that they are ideally suited to harvesting nectar from tubular and trumpet shaped blooms such as verbena, eupatorium and jasmin. Aim also to provide a long season of flowers to ensure food is available from spring to late autumn.

Use climbers where space is limited to provide vertical canopies up pergolas and fences in which birds can roost and nest. Also these plants can provide food - berries from honeysuckle, pyracantha and cotoneaster.

Where water voles are likely to use river and stream banks plant cover under which these shy mammals can thrive - plants like meadow sweet offer arching foliage and foaming blooms, Carex pendula provides cover and food, while crab apples offer a hearty meal.