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| This year, the weather has been hotter than the planting scheme colours! |
One of the highlights of my early days as a proper, professional horticulturalist, way back in the summer of 2011, was the chance to take part in the building of a garden for the Tatton Park Flower Show, working with colleges from Reaseheath College. By a nice trick of symmetry, as I stand on the brink of returning to welfare rights as my primary profession, the opportunity to work at Tatton has come round again.
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| Paving and planting - the garden starts to take shape |
It's a smaller project this year, a circular garden commissioned by St Luke's Hospice to mark their Silver Anniversary. I missed most of the messiest part of the build - constructing the wildflower meadow ramparts that will partly enclose the seating area and water feature - though did have lots of fun this morning mixing mud to coat a smaller mound prior to the application of turf.
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| Waiting for planting and gasping for water |
As previously, it's been a treat to see imaginative design and skilled work combining with good plant selection to create what will hopefully be an inspiring garden. Unfortunately, there has been one factor this year notably absent in 2011 - scorching temperatures. While the plants for the Secret Garden project were bathed daily by the weather gods, while we mere mortals huddled for shelter under a couple of gazebos and tried desperately to prevent the mortar being washed out of our walls and paving, this year it has been a constant battle, with hose and watering can, to keep the plants from reaching permanent wilting point.
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| Resting my size 10s for a moment - safety boots are compulsory |
It's been tough going to make sure us gardeners have stayed hydrated too. Being so used to tap water being drinkable, it takes an effort to remember that the piped water on site isn't - it's drawn from the lakes in the grounds, so contains all manner of nasties and probably a high proportion of deer pee! Not that this deterred the Eastern European contractor team erecting the marquee across the road from our site from showering themselves off with the standpipe water, but they did have a heavy job and no shelter. I doubt if most of the patrons of the Champagne Bar their structure is destined to be will give a moment's thought to the guys who put it all up, and will take it down again.
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| Drifts of 'chocolate' cosmos |
It's hard to get a sense of the show this year. There seem to be more exhibition tents and fewer gardens, although the organisers' office claims there are actually more gardens, but spread out across the site rather than clustered around 'The Clump'. In previous years it's been amazing how many are built over the last weekend, so when I'm next on site (due to be Monday lunchtime), it'll be interesting to see what changes have taken place.
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| End of work, Thursday. |
I'm sure St Luke's garden will be fully planted by then, and it'll just be for whoever is on site then to tidy the edges and get the last patches of dirt off the granite sets and the last traces of cement dust off of the grass. And, of course, to do the watering...
