What to do about the rabbit.
My client family have a rabbit, which is occasionally let out for a run. My instructions are to avoid plants that won't poison the rabbit. Once you start looking, it's surprising how many plants to have toxicity warnings on them. Plants I've ruled out include iris, hellebores, euphorbias, euonymous and ivies. I might otherwise have included any of these, especially since most are good in shade (and there's plenty of that), but they are off the agenda.
Naturally, as a gardener, I'm more worried about the rabbit eating the plants than the plants poisoning the rabbit. So I'm building a rabbit playpen to go on the lawn. Not only will this protect the rabbit and the plants, but the rabbit will help mow the grass. That's another construction project to finish.
Getting creative...
The last time I did anything 'creative' was probably in Art classes at school (a long time ago!) However, the brief for the programme stresses that they want 'creativity and innovation'.
So I've got two DIY projects on the go; making plum coloured trellis for the garage wall and creating feature edging stones with purple gravel. I'm sticking the gravel to the edging blocks I've got using PVA glue and glazing it with varnish. Despite DB's scepticism, the technique has seems to have worked a treat - it'll take a pickaxe to get them off. But whether it will work visually I really don't know.
The plum coloured slats for the trellis, stained and ready for assembly
Purple gravel blocks. I really hope they like purple as much as it says on the brief...
In colour
The final colour plan went off today. I've had to commit to specific plants now, but I don't feel ready. I'd rather make an adaptable choice based on the quality of what I find, rather than specify an exact cultivar and then run the risk of not finding good enough plants. I just keep reminding myself that we're all in the same boat here - except that I'm away at the weekend so I'll lose 4 prep days.
There's no sign of the contract yet, which means no cheque for the materials yet. The Beeb have apologised profusely but I'm having to make purchases now. I can't wait until next week.
Finally - time to think about plants
The paving is set aside at B&Q (with the patient help of Ed, Sonia and Phil) and it's now time to focus on the plants. Another round of nursery visiting and deposit placing secured more good specimens. I was especially pleased to find a Callicarpa 'Profusion' at a good size and price. I'd wanted to include this from the start but had no joy with finding one.
The project garden is all marked out on the lawn again. Perhaps it's a skill that will come with time, but right now I really struggle to place plants on a paper plan and know that they will look right in practice. I need to see it for real before I know it's right. Ideally, I'd just have a longer plant list, take eveything down and just pick what looks right on location, but the budget won't stretch to that level of flexbility.
The project garden with a few key plants in place.
The plan is in the post.
The draft plan has gone off in the post. I feel quite insecure about the design side - I really hope it doesn't get knocked back - I don't think I'd cope well with that.
If you're interested in how I got to this stage, the pictures below should give some idea of the development process. I need to send the colour version with plant list in a week.
I'm getting too bogged down in detail - time to go back to basic shapes
Using coloured card cutouts proved ideal - it really helped get the shapes right.
A black and white hard landscaping plan
Filming day...
Well, what an experience. After several false starts (by me) and endless interruptions from planes and passing traffic, I made a passable effort at presenting me and my garden. The thing I found hardest was not starting the sentence with a stutter, and remembering to smile. I kept thinking, be like Carol Klein, upbeat and enthusiastic! I think I did OK in the end. But the best bit was doing real gardening under the camera - that felt great. I tied up the squash, repotted a plant and inspected some of my cuttings, all under the steely glare of the lens. It was by far the best part of the day.
Anyway, before all that I had an hour with the landscaping tutor at the college for a crash course in hard landscaping techniques. It was probably the best hour I've spent - I feel so much better for knowing a bit more about what I'm doing.
The film crew are coming back
It's all happening too quickly now. The production team are coming back tomorrow to film me and the garden properly for the programme. The brief is to walk round, talk about the garden and try to look like a gardener. I'm so glad I tidied the garden yesterday as we've had the heaviest rain in the last two years here this afternoon.
I'm worried about making a path now - anything permanent, cheap and child-safe will do. I called Reaseheath College and struck lucky. Ian Bennison, the hard landscaping instructor, can see me first thing tomorrow before the film crew get here, for a one hour instant tutorial in flag laying and building all weather, curved paths.
In the meantime the conservatory roof light has leaked in the torrential downpour, dripping all over my latest set of plans. Joy...
Back to the drawing board
Decking is off. We have just got the photos through of the plot as it is now. Guess what they've got at the end of the garden? Decking. No way am I building a garden for 3 days, only for the client to say that it's exactly what they had before - plus a few plants and a bit of a path.
Hazel dragged me off to B&Q, despite my protestations. She used to work there and swears I've not looked properly. I don't have to buy set packs as they sell individual slabs. Also she might get a bit of discount as she used to be staff until a few weeks ago.
Bingo! When I explained what it was for, B&Q offered us the equivalent of her staff discount and we've found a lovely pale buff/plum colour sandstone flag. It's not cheap, but with the discount and a different path, we might be getting somewhere. Big chains don't often get a public thank you - but THANK YOU, B&Q WINWICK!
The future's bright, the future's decking
I'm getting very stressed about the amount of hard landscaping involved (needed to get to the gate all year round). So - plan B. We will get the landscaping helper to build a patio by the house and create a paved path (I didn't know then that we couldn't just give them a hard landscaping job to get on with on their own). Hazel and I will drop decking straight onto gravel as a sun terrace, which we pre-build at home, stain and reassemble on site. This will save a lot of time, is cheaper than paving and still looks pretty good. Dave's Dad is a joiner and has offered to help with the pre-building. I feel a bit better.
Thinking or sleeping?
My brain won't switch off and I've had two sleepless nights, churning away at ideas. I'm hopelessly tired and I can't think straight when I'm tired so I'm stuck in a loop of unproductive creative zombiness.
I've found a gorgeous, smooth wavy paving stone called Rio - I've been thinking of making a wavy path made of it, so it's 6am and I've spent 3 hours cutting and re-arranging bits of paper on the living room floor. DB wandered in in his dressing gown looking for me. He's been spurned for yet another gardening project and looked a bit forlorn. He said nothing and made me a cup of tea, which went cold. I couldn't make Rio work - just as well as it's scarily expensive.
Not so easy
Yesterday was the good news. Today I marked out the garden area and started experimenting with the space using string and stakes. The big problem is the gate. How to get from the gate to the patio doors all year round without blowing all the budget, time and space on hard landscaping. You can see from DB's body language that he's not convinced that I'm getting anywhere. He's right.
The brief arrives...
A huge envelope dropped through the door today with information, rules and the all-important brief. My client are a couple in their 30s with three children, a rabbit and a passion for purple. In a 5m x 9m, north facing garden space they'd like a sun sun terrace, a lawn, water feature and bird table. And I mustn't poison the rabbit. They love purple, grasses, lavender and cordylines. The buget for materials is £1,200.
This isn't too scary - I think it's going to be OK...
I'm in the final
Cast your mind back to Thursday 10th August 2006, 6pm. I don't know if you remember where you were, but I know exactly where I was - in a bar in Manchester after a rare shopping trip with my neighbour Chris. I knew it was the BBC GOTY panel's decision day and when the producer, Andrew rang me on my mobile I just knew straight away that I had made it. (I've done enough interviewing to know that you phone the successful candidate the day you decide, and make the 'sorry no' calls later). And yes, I was in the last 5.
Chris was beside himself with glee and I couldn't stop grinning. I was a bit shaky too, to be honest. It takes a lot to knock me sideways, but I was completely gobsmacked.
On the way home the realisation of what I'd got myself into started to hit home. I'd never designed a whole garden in one go before, I've always had the time to take an evolutionary approach. And my very first project would be performed under the unforgiving scrutiny of several BBC cameras and an audience of about 1 million. Wow.
It all started in December 2005
A little bit of background...
I watched GOTY 2005 last Christmas and thought - one day I'll do that. During spring 2006 I was able to cut down my hours at work and had finally made progress on some outstanding projects on my own garden. When I spotted the application form on the website it seemed like the right time. What harm could it do? I did a sketch of my garden, took some photos and posted off the application form. This is one of the pictures I sent in:
A week later I got a call and was put through a set of horticultural questions over the phone. I'd taken the RHS General exam two weeks before and some of the questions covered topics I'd just revised so that was a big help. I knew I'd done pretty well so I wasn't too surprised when they called back to organise a filming visit - but with just 48 hours notice!
Although the garden looked reasonably OK it was tatty at the edges and the new prairie garden was half finished, so the two days were a marathon gardening session. The visit was also in the middle of the July heatwave (remember that?), the grass was brown and everything looked tired and floppy, including me.
I remember they were running late, and I kept getting nervous flutters, so I reached for the camera to give me something to do and snapped this wonderful pair of peacock butterflies on the first buddleia flower of the year.
Anyway, it all seemed to go fairly well. The BBC team filmed the garden and interviewed me on video for the panel. I had no idea how I'd come across so I couldn't guess how it had gone. I'd also been interrogated fairly closely by Claire, the horticultural advisor, and she gave nothing away. All I could do afterwards was enjoy my now wonderfully tidy garden and wait...
