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...
posted by Sue Beesley @ 5:33 PM
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