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A phone bill arrived last week: 500 calls made in the last quarter! Sometimes I do feel I spend more time talking to nurseries, suppliers and so on than actually out there in the garden getting my hands dirty. But I've now sourced almost everything. All the plants have arrived at the nursery which...
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Well I am very glad that this is a new week. By the end of last I was tearing my hair out wondering what else could go wrong with the garden planning. Les, my contractor, and I had a good and productive meeting earlier in the week but he was having mega worries about the straw bale wall construction...
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I have a meeting this morning with Les Hewett of The English Garden Company who is my contractor for constructing the show garden for the National Year of Reading. The two of us have not met for a few weeks, not since before my holiday so it is essential for us to review the build and work out a suitable...
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As a designer who has had a long association with creating show gardens at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, imagine my delight when I was appointed by the National Year of Reading in February to create their garden at this year's show. Although I am used to creating gardens for shows in a relatively...
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At the risk of tempting fate, I can say it feels like it might all be coming together. At least, I've got quite a few things ticked off my To Do list this past week. Firstly, I've sourced the barrels we'll need to hold plant tea and liquid manure, and to act as water butts. Timber and fencing...
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Today I marked a Hampton Court milestone on my calendar. It is now precisely six weeks until we start the build - and reality (and a few moments of panic) have started to kick in! Up until now I have primarily been dealing with the sourcing of hard materials, and negotiating with garden centres for donations...
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