Boundary wall is built and looks increadible!!!

Today I had the most uplifting life affirming experience. I went to see my contractor who rented a barn from a local farmer and just completed building my boundary wall! It looks incredible. It is the most rewarding feeling to see months of designing, planning and refining an idea, and seeing that vision come to life. This wall is both beautiful and crazy, and I love it!! Who cares what medal I win, I know my show garden will be stunning, unique and more importantly,  my creation (with the kind help of some amazing people...)

         To give you a sense of scale my contractor tom standing by a couple of panels...

A view of the wave pattern head on

Last weekend and the BBC

So an other early rise today, as I've given up on the notion of long nights of unbroken sleep. My mind is constantly awake revising details of the show garden and remaining tasks. I've only a week left before the mayhem of building begins. Strangely I've been very calm and relaxed lately, probably just the quiet before the storm.. On Monday I'm doing a 45 minute radio interview for radio Oxford, I really cant imagine what I'll talk about for so long, and today the BBC are filming me as part of a piece which covers before during and after the competition. They want to see me working at my desk... which I must say is unfortunate. My desk is 2 meters from my bed, and as I only clean up my 'office' once I've completed a project it's a complete sty of papers wires pens and books. So very unprofessional and hardly the impression I want to give!! We are also going up to Orchard Dene where I work to film my show garden plants, in this at least I can be proud. I've spent hours and hours tending those plants, potting them up, watering etc, and they look fantastic!
This morning a huge pack came through the door with all my vehicle and delivery badges and passes, which I now have to post and send out to all my  major providers. Just goes to show how complex an organisation of an RHS show and show garden is. But how exciting! I cant wait to see my trees arrive on a giant lorry, or my crazy boundary wall once it's erected, will my giant steel water tanks look stunning or will the black powder coating make them look like cheep PVC. I feel this garden will look stunning, I have a vision in my head, and the task is to extrapolate that and make it a reality. Anything can happen in the interim and who knows what the end result will be - the important thing is to enjoy the process....

3 weeks till show garden time!

(Oxford times photo)

This week has been yet again very eventful.. Not only has the realisation hit that I only have 3 weeks left until I move up to Manchester for a month and begin the build of my show garden, but the Oxford media have caught on to my story. This week headlines in 2 of the main papers and in on-line news pages blasted titles of 'Ex-BMW TEST DRIVER GRABS GARDEN PRIZE' and more variations on the theme. Clearly my past as a factory working test driver come garden designer has inspired them...

My very expensive of birch plywood destined to become the boundary wall of the show garden was finally delivered! I'd sourced this incredible material over the internet, they had the boards made up to my specification, including the different grain directions I wanted and to FSC standard. A huge articulated lorry came to the little village lane where my contractor who is prefabricating my boundary lives. This humongous jumbo lorry then proceeded to reverse 1 mile down the lane to drop off it's load at the farmers barn which we are hiring to build the boundary. I then gave my contractor the giant template I had printed for him to cut the shapes from. Very exciting indeed, especially when you finally have some solid evidence of all the hard work you're doing. There is about 1 ton of ply, and it looks lovely, though may have to be stained to make the grain stand out a little more...

So 3 weeks left. Only 6 of which are free working days for show garden planning, not taken up by the nursery I work in, and still I have so much to do! Tick tick tick tock!!!

Alan Titchmarsh and I

Interview with Alan Titchmarsh last friday in Andy Sturgeon's 'Best in Show' Chelsea garden.