CRAMMED with fruit and vegetables, as well as ornamental and exotic plants, ponds that flow into each other, and big, wide balconies filled by pots … it sounds like a dream garden.

And it is - this is the green space Diarmuid Gavin is creating at home in County Wicklow, Republic Of Ireland, for his wife and daughter.

We had been talking about what to grow in west Scotland and how to cultivate even the smallest of city gardens. It was too good a chance not to ask the maverick Irish garden designer and television presenter about his own plans.

"The great thing about gardening is you never stop learning, whatever age you get to, you are a student pretty much all your life," he says. "So your idea of what a dream garden is changes all the time.

"We are getting there with the garden I am building at home, which we moved into about seven years ago.

"It is not a huge garden and it is not a garden or a design that people would associate with me or think of as mine. But the one I am making here for my wife and my daughter will be pretty much, I think, a dream garden - though it's a bit of a mess today," he adds, referring to the never-ending rain.

Diarmuid is the gardening ambassador for the Ideal Home Show Scotland at the SECC, Glasgow,next month, and will be giving talks.

"A romp through the different styles that have merged over a couple of thousand years to result in the contemporary garden," he says.

"Then a second lecture that is my own progression; the type of gardens we do and why we do them, from the relatively sane to the very quirky."

His advice to anyone thinking about designing their own outdoor space? Let your mind run free.

"For me it is all about using the imagination, don't be restricted by what you are told to do.

"You can take inspiration from so many different places, you are not just restricted to garden outlets or from watching TV shows such as Gardeners' World on a Friday night.

"It might be from a pop video, a piece of architecture, anything.

"Whatever excites you can lead to a different way of thinking about gardens and what your space can become. Make up your own rules and never be scared of being individual and having something unique or new to say."

No shrinking violet, these are bold words from the man whose name is synonymous with contemporary, edgy creations.

His Irish Sky Garden won the gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show three years ago, a turf-covered pink pod that had to be hoisted up in the air by a crane.

For gardeners who are keen followers of the latest trends, Diarmuid says prairie style planting and growing your own fruit and veg are the 'in' things to have outside this summer.

"Gardening is going through a period of refining. For a number of years we were shoving everything but the kitchen sink into the garden and that is getting simpler," he says.

"It is all about looking at ways of growing your own, even in a small space for people who just have balconies or patio gardens.

"Things like whirlpool baths, hot tubs and pavilions are coming back. When times are tough economically they tend to disappear.

"It is all about going the whole hog in terms of potential outdoor enjoyment and outdoor fun."

Hot tubs aside, if you have only a small city garden you do not have to be restricted, just choosy about what you put in it, he advises.

Keep it simple and do not introduce too many different materials. If you can, make space for a tree.

A Japanese maple or an acacia, which is in flower at the moment, are his suggestions. Just make sure it is appropriate for the size of your outdoor space.

"The biggest investment you make will be getting the soil right," he says.

"Get someone to haul through barrowloads of manure and get them buried deep into the beds.

"And if you are away a lot and your gardening is on the patio, in pots or raised beds, put a simple irrigation system in and it will make the world of difference and really speed up the growth of vegetables and fruit and ornamental plants flowering by a factor of 100%.

"They will jump out of the ground if they are getting a regular water."

For instant colour with minimum effort, go for hardy annuals. Buy budget-friendly packets and seeds and sow directly into the ground.

"Things like nigella or lavatera would be beautiful," he enthuses. "And the Flanders poppy is a really beautiful, simple bright red flower. Nasturtiums, too, are such a delight."

That love of traditional blooms gives an insight into Diarmuid's early inspiration: Percy Thrower.

He says watching the 1970s gardener on BBC's Blue Peter fascinated him and Diarmuid is particularly thrilled about an upcoming trip to the Blue Peter garden.

Who knew that was all it would take to tame the wild child of horticulture...

l Diarmuid is gardening ambassador for Ideal Home Show Scotland at the SECC, from May 23-26. Tickets from www.idealhomeshowscotland.co.uk

angela.mcmanus@ eveningtimes.co.uk