These are blog posts that Rachel's Organic Gardens has made.
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The heatwave that stayed with us from the beginning of the Garden build to the end was incredible. Every day the weather report raised the expected temperature, and everyday the sun obliged. We had to water the plants at least twice a day and still many, in particular the fruit trees, were clearly stressed. Martin announced his phone was telling him it was 35 degrees one day and my car said 33 degrees. We would slap on the factor 30, drink gallons of bottled water and knuckle down to creating the two gardens and the sampling area. And it was a joy because your working alongside the best gardeners in the country at one of the premier flower shows in the world, in a stunning setting with the Palace as our backdrop.
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The time has come! Its Friday 25th June, Im back at Hampton Court again and Rachels ambitious display is underway. Let me take you on the Hampton Court Flower Show Garden build experience! Firstly you get there at 7:30 am latest. You will have checked the previous day that everyone is going to arrive/deliver everything that was agreed. You come into Home park through a small gate near Kingston bridge. And you enter another world. It’s a sudden escape from the impending rush hour traffic snarl up. There are fields, willows swaying beside ponds, acres of knee high long grass and everywhere herds of fallow deer really close up to you. You arrive at the far end of the long water and it’s a tremendous view along it to the Palace in the distance. Also you get your first sight of the giant white marquees that have grown over the last week and which will house the indoor displays of the Hampton Court Flower Show.
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Rachels Organic Passion for Taste Garden is all about FRUIT. People dedicate their lives to growing fruit and we’ve got a fantastic bunch of experts at Ken Muir Nurseries in Essex bringing on the specimens that bear the fruit we take for granted when we enjoy Rachels delicious tastes. I took time out last week to check out how the plants were getting on and I wasn’t disappointed. I had planned to visit a day earlier, but got stuck in the dreaded M25 car park, gave up and decided to go the next day. That meant I missed Roger and Kevin Muir, but Sue Muir was there to show me round – this is a proper Family business!Actually this was something of a trip down memory lane for me. The Muirs’ Nursery is in Weeley near Clacton. Back in the 70’s this was the site of a Woodstock size Rock Festival and friends and I camped there for the weekend. The bands that played were the pick of the Rock world at the time, including Rory Galagher, King Crimson, Lindisfarne, TRex and weirdly the Groundhogs who I saw last year at our own concert hall in Falmouth. The pick of the bunch was a young Rod Stewart and the Faces which remains one of the best sets ive ever seen. Sue told me she had camped there as well so we were able to reminisce! Im acutely aware looking at the trees and bushes that there is really relatively little point in me deciding what individual plants should be set aside for the show. The reality is that 24 hours is a long time in the world of fruit. Blackcurrants dripping in dark bunches of fruit now will be well over by the time we need it – strawberries and Raspberies that look green and uninspiring now will be laden in ripe fruit the first week in July. So im told anyway! And to be honest ive just got to rely on this family team that have 12 RHS Gold medals and over 40 years of growing under their belt!Ive given them a list of the type of plants that go into Rachels products and most of them will appear in our display, apart from the exotic ones like bananas - which would look a little out of place in combination with gooseberries!So in short we are going to have fine blackcurrants, strawberries, peaches and cherries. Will the gooseberries be over? Will the Rhubarb grow a bit more? Will the blueberries actually be blue?The Muirs are delivering the plants on Monday 29th and Ive realized I had better get a net over all those fruit bushes before they are eaten before judging!
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For more behind the scenes information regarding the Rachel's gardens builds and Rachel’s 25th anniversary garden party celebrations visit: www.gardenforrachels.co.uk
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