Day 2 Chelsea build

The sun is shining and everyone seems happy to see some blue sky and a few less unplanned water features! We mark out the location of the rest of the wall to where it reaches ground level and crosses the path and after a few more dumps of soil roughly mark the sweep of the path, ready to receive MOT type 1.

However, delivering soil from the other side of the show ground and moving vehicles from our plot to the gate takes a long time as traffic is backed up and just crossing the road by my plot is a liability - no question why you need high viz here. We too cause some chaos when we are asked to move our Bradstone stock to a new location and have to drive the forklift truck against traffic seven times!

I take a quick trip to a builders merchant for wood and a powerful drill to produce the internal structure of the wall which proves quite a time waster - but at least the sun is shining......

I am really impressed with the degree of precision that my contractors, Carter Landscapes, are aiming to work to. As the seat needs to be located at just the right angle, height and width, we take our time working out the internal structure which will take the beautifully crafted bull nose seat slab. Currently we are working 200mm deeper than ground level which will allow for planting on top of the wall footings.

For the curved wall I work out the height that the wall reaches every 500mm down the curve and the team make a wooden frame to take the Bradstone product to this height. It currently looks a bit like an old fashioned roller coaster!

Day 1 Chelsea build

7.30 start - the key to the tool box is missing and we can't move the digger because it's key is in the box....however, this delay was really helpful as our garden area is officially marked out and the extra 50mm grass strip included that we had originally omitted, so that would have put a lot of measurements out.
Forgive me for getting philosophical but sometimes I think things happen for a reason.....

Trees from Deepdale arrive

Deepdale arrives with the trees at 9.30 and we decide to put the far corner tree straight in as its root ball will be under the curved wall footing and it is in the centre of the group of gardens. A bull finch briefly enjoys it's branches and looks down on the otherwise empty muddy plot.

Bradstone Product Arrives

Trees are positioned

I fix the top two perspex sections on and we set out the garden according to my plans using strings and levels. The team excavate most of the site to around 700mm and we spend time precisely locating the centre of the garden, the specimen Betula nigra location, the centre for the base of the sculpture, so that the sculpture encircles this key tree and looks right from all angles.

We attach the lower sections of sculpture (minus perspex leaves for fear of damage) and then the upper sections.

It rains hard for half an hour and most people seem to down tool;, a pair of ducks look on amused and try out the impromptu pond that has appeared in my plot!

In a last push for the day we mark out the location of the wall footing and nearly forget the 50mm grass strip again!!!! These go in and we decide to call it a day at 7pm. I plod back to my accommodation feeling tired but fairly pleased with progress.

All in the detail

I have been lying awake thinking everything through; trying to picture the planting combinations; colours, textures and heights, working through the order of construction, thinking about the balance of hard landscaping to soft, the atmosphere I am trying to create.

I fine tuned the brief before sending in for the April 30th deadline. I decided to keep it clear and simple and with one idea: Energy and Vitality in a woodland garden.

I am now thinking a lot about the state of the plants growing on at Crocus and at Deepdale. Today I am told the specimen tree (Betula nigra) has just broken leaf and has only16 days to leaf up! I have postponed my trip to Deepdale to make a final selection until two days before delivery to Chelsea and will select back up trees, probably native Betula pendula, in case the leaves don't appear to be mature enough. I decide to produce a 'latest' planting plan to send off to my planting helpers so that they will have an idea of the look and layout I am aiming for.

I have also been thinking about the sculpture and have decided to sand the tip to a high shine and the next section to a lesser degree. This, I am hoping will express the idea of the point pushing upwards, fresh and new, whilst the lower broader section looks older and rusted. I use a lacquer spray to retain the shine as the mild steel rusts almost visibly in the damp weather we are experiencing.

Bradstone have done a fantastic job of 'bullnosing' the seat slab of Panache paving. I am eager to see it in situ on the garden.

At home the woods look stunning! The blue bells are in full flow and the smell is divine.......
Ferns are unfurling, the fresh green beech leaves are stunning against the blue bell backdrop. The deer seem to vanish into the woods, there hind quarters with tail stripe blending perfectly into the narrow trunks of Betula pendula. Molly chases a young squirrel that hasn't mastered climbing damp trees and I have to call her off! An owl hoots in the day time, which seems a little odd. Red kites swirl and make their distinctive cry. All is alive and well.

The list

So,
I am now on count down.....

I have a list of jobs to do that I work through but then more appear on the bottom! The key jobs are sourcing more plants (Chris Marchant at Orchard Dene has been very supportive!), potting some on from tiny 9cm pots. as well as tweaking the brief to add details about plant changes and re use of materials and features after the show. I am really pleased to hear that the London Wildlife Trust are happy to receive my Sculpture and trees after the show at their Peckham Centre for Wild Life Gardening . This seems totally appropriate. My Chelsea gardens' design is about the energy of regeneration, whilst this wild life visitors centre has been created from an old council depot. I have also been contacted by an organisation called Groundwork who are able to reuse many materials from RHS Chelsea, so am pleased that a lot of the Bradstone hard landscaping will have a second life.
www.wildlondon.org.uk
www.groundwork.org.uk

I have been delivering extra plants to Crocus and re assessing my trees at Deepdale to make a final selection. I have also made small amendments to the Risk assessment, drawn up a timetable for the build and show to check that there are enough badges and wrist bands to go around. After some considerable effort the green wall delivery is now arranged. The Perspex leaves have been removed for safe transportation. The list goes on....

Small progress

The Easter holidays have arrived, the children require attention and my mind is distracted! Two days in I have a meeting with all the team, including Chris, about progress on the garden. I bring everything as well as a list of questions. It seems we are now down to the finer details of the build logistics and whether I have enough of the right plants growing on, so once home I order some more. A useful tip I have been given is one third 'performance plants' to two thirds 'working plants'.  

I am now regularly checking on the growing 'green wall' progress which is actually growing a little too well and rooting into the ground where it sits. So I give it all a 'hair cut' (quite therapeutic really!) and attach dark sheeting to the wall to protect these shade loving plants from the strong sun that we have been experiencing. 

I am a little concerned about the health of the digitalis (which is a key plant in my scheme for Chelsea) that I have growing on. So they are resourced and in the mean time I have another batch of 40 potted up in a local nursery. I find some large native ferns and more young Betula Nigra potentially to create a grouping in the forground of my Chelsea design, to give the centre a more enclosed woodland feeling.


The woods at home is now in full flow. The blue bells are starting to colour up and yellow  Lesser celandines (Ranunculus ficaria) open on sunny days in the damper areas. The white flowered Wood Anemone (Anemone nemorosa) are so beautiful and delicate ,and seem to enjoy growing in similar conditions to Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella); such a small delicate flower and simple leaf. I am just as excited this year to see how the wood flora is changing as I normally am about my own garden! The big change is that I did'nt have a dog this time last year, but her energy has forced me out and I now can't wait to get walking to see whats growing in my local countryside, (most of the time anyway!) 

The Woods Awakens

Molly (my juvenile Labrador) and I take our usual circular walk most mornings. It is fascinating to see the small changes that are starting to happen each day as the temperature warms and light levels increase. One of the first wood land plants to push through is what I know as 'Lords and Ladies' (Arum maculatum). Such a luscious green leaf - some are quite spotted and attractive. Another plant to spring up is 'Dogs Mercury'. The Deschampsia is starting to show green amongst its dry brown wispy leaves, but the Dryopteris ferns are staying tightly curled up knuckles. The bluebell leaves are pushing up in sunny areas of wood, and buds on trees swell. Elder leaves, Hazel and Hawthorn are the earliest tree leaves to appear.

I manage to visit David Hockney's current exhibition, 'A Bigger Picture', at the R.A. His 'paintings' are mostly of trees in his native Yorkshire landscape. They are painted in incredibly confident bright colours, a lot are very graphic and on a huge prolific scale. I am particularly drawn to the series that show an symbolic amputated tree stump, which he calls 'Totems',  surrounded by younger trees. Here he is examining the cycle of nature. I love the ipad series that show a woods changing through the months. The colours are more subtle here and the detailed mark making is gorgeous! All very inspiring - I will have to get painting again......or maybe ipadding!

Living Wall, Sculpture and the Brief

I spent a busy few days planting up 1100 octagonal sections of 'Bod pave' having stapled capillary matting to the reverse side to help retain the soil and moisture. To do this I used 9cm plants and divided each one into 3 so that these shallow fast rooting plants can rapidly spread a mat of green to create the desired green wall effect. My local garden centre have very kindly offered me space in their large 'growing on 'green houses which is heated and checked on daily so that is a huge help. When transported to Chelsea they will be mounted onto the curved wall vertically. 

The sculpture progressed at a pace the over the last week; the blacksmith welded clever joints that slot the five sections together and hold them at the correct angle of curvature. Then we hired a platform so that we could work out and mark on the angles that all the metal thorns need to be welded on, to attach the Perspex 'leaves'. As all the protective backs are still on the Perspex it is hard to see the finished effect but I am pleased it has worked out as planned. We make some small adjustments to angles and take it down to store it until the show.

I also spend another day re writing the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Brief. A lot has changed since the first draft was written last September, when the design was not as thoroughly worked through as it is now. So I spend some time carefully thinking through the changes and how to word them to answer the six questions on the brief. I try to keep it simple and clear, and avoid prescribing feelings!

Visiting the show ground site is a strange experience as what I have come to think of as a large busy site is in fact a lot smaller when seen as a playing field! It is hard to imagine just how full and active this site is in less than two months time.