My Garden

This year has been an amazing one for me!  Not only did I receive a Bronze Medal for my first Urban Garden at Chelsea.  But I built my biggest and best (if I say so myself) garden at Tatton Park.

I think that it is safe to say I bit off a little more than I could chew by attempting to build two gardens at Tatton this year.  Sadly the little Back to Back Garden - Time Out was renamed as... 'The Neglected One!'  The plants I had arranged for the small garden sadly did not arrive, and were substituted.  Therefore the garden did not look like it did in my head when I was designing it, and further more I ran out of time.  We all agreed that the Show Garden - Aqua Life had to come first, and so took priority.  'Time Out' received a Bronze Medal, which considering all the problems was acceptable

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I realised last night, as we were told it was definately time to leave the show ground, that I hadn't written a posting for a long time.  Therefore not telling the story of the construction so far.

Last week we met on our plot for the first time, a large soiled rectangle.  It didn't so big, and certainly didn't look like we would fit everything in.  But we sprayed it up, and started excavating.  Wow, a swimming pool is very different.  This is my first natural swimming pond, and we have certainly built it as if it were here to stay.  The whole was dug very quickly, and the retaining walls were up almost instantly. 

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Well, we start on site at Tatton Park next weekend. I have already been to Tatton Park twice in the last few weeks, just to have a walk around the site, and get a feel for where my gardens will be.

Stew, my main construction man has been working hard alongside myself and also our suppliers to ensure that everything will come together once we start building on site. I have been down to Gloucester to see the Organic Stone team, and to see the first samples of our bespoke paving stones, made specially for the Shown Garden - Aqua Life. The colour is amazing, and the texture is beautiful. I left the show room very optimistic and excited about the whole thing. We have made a slight alteration to the design, and included another new product that will highlight the pathway that runs alongside the pool. Not giving too much away, but it is something a little bit different. The Bigger Plant Co have also put my mind at ease (once again) when I went to check on my gorgeous trees. We have two different varietes of tree on the 'Aqua Life' Show Garden, and a Phontinia Hedge on the 'Time Out' Back to Back Garden

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Well I have finally got back on top of everything after my stay in London. I built my first garden at the Chelsea Flower (Urban Category), and received a Bronze Medal, which I am extremely proud of.

The weather was fantastic during both the build and the show period, but when it came time to break the garden down the heavens opened, and all the tools, equipment, materials came back dirty and very wet! As did the Outer Spaces team. It was one of the projects where everything that could possibley go wrong, DID! We overcame the problems, and built a fantastic garden, that I was extremely happy with, (and as usual) sad to breakdown.

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Things are very busy on the show garden front.  We are getting ready to leave for Chelsea, and packing all our tools.  This promises to be a very challenging project, as we have already had various problems to overcome.  I think that this year is going to be a difficult one in terms of planting, as the weather is not helping us produce show standard plants.  I have had to substitute a rather large number of Alliums for the show, and completely change the scheme for my living roof.  I am also having problems on the Sponsor front, due to credit crunches, which I imagine is a problem for a lot of exhibitors.  But I am sure that everything will come together once we get down there.

Tatton is all starting to pull together, and I have been in contact with the Bath Store to choose the detailing for the outdoor shower.  Also I have been checking up on the plants, that have still got plenty of time to grow.  But my favourite trip this week was to 'The Bigger Plant Company' in Moels, who always supply my trees, and I have selected 8 large specimens for my Show Garden that look fantastic.  I feel very excited now I can see some of the main components of the Show Garden coming together.  Also I have selected some larger shrubs to create the hedge backdrop for my Back to Back Garden

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After submitting plans late last year for three gardens at various shows in 2008, and being accepted with a Chic Garden at Chelsea called Green Living, a Back to Back at Tatton called Time out, and a Show Garden also at Tatton called Aqualife – this year is already very busy.  So far I have mostly been planning the gardens, arranging deliveries and materials with sponsoring companies, and choosing all the materials and matching products / props, and scheduling the works with my team.

Chelsea is virtually organised at this point, the garden’s construction has been planned and scheduled.  My team and I are all VERY excited, and can’t wait to begin our first ever Chelsea garden experience.  We have been making mock ups of different construction methods, and feel confident that the garden will be a success

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