Bobby, the little gardener, is struggling to maintain his garden. He's just too small and his neighbours are causing havoc. So he wishes for a little more help. And whilst he's fast asleep the little children go into his greenhouse and help Bobby's garden grow and blossom into something beautiful.

Based on Emily Hughes's picture book The Little Gardener comes an unique adaptation that comes to Imagine Watford for the first time.

The play, directed by Eva Sampson, is set in a hexagonal glass box, with the whole performance taking place inside.

Speaking about the play, the 29-year-old from Radlett says: "The concept for the greenhouse came quite easily because it felt like a home for him and it felt like something that would attract people's attention when walking past in the streets."

Eva, who is the co-director of the local theatre group How It Ended explains that she has been sitting on putting this piece together for a while.

"When I read the book the first time, I fell in love with it. Having chatted to the writer, it was really important for her to have that sense of community and bring people together, so I knew that I wanted some interaction.

"Bobby's garden is his home and place of safety. What we are teaching through the story is helping each other… and a little bit of gardening on the way, a little bit of learning and inspiring them to get their hands dirty and to enjoy the outdoors. That’s why it is so important that it is outdoors."

The former University of Birmingham graduate who studied drama and theatre arts, adds: "the joy about this show is that it works both in city and suburban areas – so on the concrete and streets and in fields and parks. They have their different challenges but when you’re moving a greenhouse around you have to be ready for all sorts. I guess the challenge is trying to create an atmosphere when there are cars and buses coming by."

Eva says they use roughly 35 plants per show, which lasts approximately 30 minutes and the recent stormy weather did cause a bit of a crisis when it came to the plants.

"We have one bed of just herbs so basil, thyme and lavender," she says. "The other beds are made of brightly coloured flowers and things that would really stand-out for the little ones. I have a niece and nephew and I know they love pinks, reds and blues and purples so we wanted to make it really vibrant.

"For each performance we tend to bring in fresh ones, but if we think they are still looking fresh and lovely then we will reuse them. We have to reset for every show, which means taking them back into the crates and look after them… so it is management of that as well.

"The big storm we had a few weeks ago was horrible. We look after the flowers on our roof terrace and they were completely ruined, which I think it is partly something that we are learning about gardening.

"It caused quite a lot of issues that storm, especially with it being an electric storm as well, so when we had our show, we had to make sure everything was safe for our performer inside the glass box, Peter Hobday. Rain isn’t a problem as the greenhouse is secure.

"It’s typical British summer at the moment and as with all outdoor shows, there are some things you can’t control. It does make it very exciting though."

Eva graduated with a masters degree from East 15 Acting School before setting up her own theatre company and directing. She describes her current show as "a charming, beautiful story with an exciting twist that invites audiences in for their own little adventure.

"My favourite part is his dance - I love his celebration dance. It’s the first time out this year, but the response has been fantastic. It has no words in it and we have had quite a lot of people say that they are from a different country, and English is their second language and it was really a great way for their child to understand and enjoy theatre for the first time and have absolutely no barriers and no pressure to understand the language. They just enjoyed it with the music and the action. And they are always so surprised when we open the greenhouse to invite them in.

"One little girl came up to me once at the end of the show and said ‘can you wake him up again and bring him out to say hello’."

The Parade, Watford, Saturday, July 2, 12.30pm, 3pm, 5.30pm and Sunday, July 3, 12pm, 2.30pm, 4.30pm. Details: imaginewatford.co.uk