Well, we are over the half way mark now and the time has come to get cracking on the planting. A lot of the stock is now on site and is looking great, and I’m confident it will look good for judging on Sunday. One of the most difficult things in a show garden is taking many individual plants and putting them together to look like one large, established plant – much easier said than done!
The team is travelling really well – Matt (Apex Landscapes) continues to lead like a champion and the ‘Chelsea Camaraderie’ that I always go on about is really shining through. What the team achieves on site at Chelsea during the 16 day build is a genuinely momentous thing, and it feels like the whole team this year ‘gets it’.
As you might expect at Chelsea, the quality of gardens going up around us is brilliant. Having a little more time on my hands this year I’ve been trying to keep up to speed with the progress of the other show gardens (ie. the competition!!) & what we’re seeing is an extremely high level of attention to detail, quality of construction & amazing design briefs.
Consequently, the nerves are finally starting to build. Up until now I’ve felt reasonably calm but as we approach the deadline of Saturday night, I’m beginning to get a few butterflies. After all, this garden has been in my head since 2008 and in the team’s hands for over a year – and it all comes down to one Sunday in May when the judges come through.
Scary stuff.
-Ian
