Hello, and welcome
If you saw the BBC's Gardener of the Year programme, broadcast on Dec 30th 2006, you'll have some idea already of what this blog is about. You'll know that I won this closely contested competition between five amateur gardeners over a very challenging 4 days of garden building and horticultural quizzes. But when I started this blog, I didn't know I would win it, of course, so this is really the diary of a GOTY finalist - who just happened to end up the winner.
A one hour television programme can never hope to cover more than a fraction of four days work by five teams as well as cover the quizzes and our personal histories as well. So much has to be edited out and as an inveterate blogger, I thought I'd try to use blogging to give something of an insight into what really happens before, during and after the programme.
Hopefully this blog won't put anyone off entering but will help to inspire more gardeners to try their luck and enter in 2007.
In the normal way of a blog, the newest post is last, so if you would prefer to read this in chronological order, start from the bottom and work your way up. And please feel free to add your thoughts on the programme and ask any questions you want by leaving a comment.
Part of my finished garden.
(Photo courtesy of Lorraine)
A few words of thanks
GOTY is not a one-person effort. A brief word of thanks is well deserved by, in no particular order:
- Hazel, for being the perfect helper (and a great daughter too).
- Ged, for solving a logistic problem by delivering a ton of paving to Tamworth in his pristine new van.
- Chris next door, who waved his magician's shopping wand and helped me choose the all important accessories right at the last minute.
- Mum, who (almost accidentally) introduced me to gardening in the first place and tracked down several plants I needed.
- Isabelle, who's idea for the purple balls I copied and for settling the debate over the colour of the fence.
- Reaseheath College, I'd never have got through the early rounds, let alone won it without the college's superb horticultural teaching.
- And finally to David, who has often endured being a short term 'garden widower', but this time had to deal with my complete mental absense at home for about 6 weeks last summer while I did nothing but think about GOTY.
Love and thanks to you all.
Aftermath
With the result announced and the champagne flowing we all got chance to wander around and look at the other gardens. Lorraine's immediately stood out has having real wow factor - when I saw it I just couldn't figure out how I managed to win. Joe confirmed that she had scored higher than me on the design, but that I'd done well enough on the quizzes to keep my score up overall. Just for once, being something of a Jack-of-all-trades had really paid off.
And I did feel OK with the result - Martin, Kirby and Mike were quick to say they felt I'd deserved it and Lorraine, despite wanting to win so badly and coming so close, was the first to congratulate me. (She sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers afterwards as well, which was very generous spirited of her).
So here are some final pictures, taken just before we left site for the last time.
The pen was meant to be for the rabbit!
I liked Martin's garden - it felt welcoming and balanced
Kirby's garden. The seat and patio area were inspired - they really worked.
Mike's brief meant he couldn't plant anything in the ground. I loved the wall hangings - very original.
Lorraine's stunning garden.
The result.
The first thing I noticed when our ragged group of 10 gardeners and helpers walked back towards our gardens was how many people were lining the road. All the BBC crews, support staff, caterers and runners were there. By the gardens were the householders, neighbours and the judges in a little huddle. Up high in the neighbouring houses, people were stood on balconies and watching out of windows.
Joe was waiting for us and gathered us into a tight group, facing him. It felt oddly like a firing squad and in a way, it was.
'I'm going to read out the results in reverse order' he announced.
There was a sharp intake of breath. There wasn't just going to be a winner, there was going to be a 5th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd. We would be picked off one by one.
'In 5th place, Mike'. That seemed so tough, his brief had been by far the worst and he had had so much less preparation time than the rest of us.
In 4th place, Kirby'. Kirby had said he'd not done well on the tests - it seemed he he was right.
'In 3rd place, Martin'. That surprised me - I had him tipped as a potential winner. He was the dark horse amongst us - quiet, but clever and focussed.
That just left Lorraine and I. We were stood shoulder to shoulder in the front row. In a moment I immediately regretted, I whispered 'It's you'. She stood stiffly, eyes straight ahead.
'In second place, Lorraine'.
I remember turning round, away from Joe, hands over my face.
I remember Lorraine's shoulders slumped when her name was read out.
I remember hearing shouting, drowning out Joe reading out my name.
I remember thinking I've won, I've won, confirming it to myself to make it feel real.
I remember turning to Hazel, thanking her and telling her how proud I was of her.
Things felt very messy after that. I kept wishing someone would tell me what I was supposed to do, wishing Dennis would stop the cameras and explain what was going to happen next. But the cameras kept rolling. I said a few stilted words and we all shuffled off into my garden.
On the little patio set that Chris and I had bought 4 days before stood the trophy and a bottle of champagne. I can't remember anything clearly. Who handed me the trophy - was it Dennis's assistant, Len or was it Joe? There was a pause - was I supposed to say something more? I stumbled through a few more sentences and was hugely relieved when the watching group of residents clapped and I could step into the crowd.
The next thing I remember is the three judges, Rachel de Thame, Adam Pascoe and Andy Sturgeon gathered around me, asking about the garden. There was a camera a few inches away and a boom mike overhead. Rachel asked me how I'd feel about leaving it behind after all that work. I said it was the clients' garden, not mine and I was ready to hand it over. We chatted for a few minutes and then I remember saying that I was taking up too much of their time and sent them away to talk to the other finalists.
I sneaked away and called my husband. 'I won', I whispered. 'Wow' he said 'Well done'. The phone battery beeped three times and died.
Waiting... and waiting.
We were led away from our gardens, and quite without warning, tears welled up in my eyes. After a brief sob on the shoulder of a warm-hearted BBC crew member, I sneaked off towards a garage to dab them dry with a clean bit of t-shirt. Predictably there was a camera crew to hand. 'It's just the relief of finishing,' I said, truthfully, 'I really didn't know if I would get there on time.' Later, Martin admitted he'd felt tearful too, but he'd kept it from view.
We were taken to a quiet garden for drinks and snacks while the judges took a tour. About 10 minutes later, I had a moment of lucid horror - we had left the white protective film on the mirror! A couple of BBC girls ran off to sort it out for us, but I was sure it was too late for the judges and the photographers. From there a whole series of uncompleted jobs kept bouncing into mind - the trachelospermum wasn't tied to the post. The reverse side of the gate was unpainted (we'd turned it round). Then there was the hurried planting. We had needed one more hour to finish properly really, but I have to accept responsibility for that.
While we waited, the 10 of us, plus Kevin from GW Magazine, sat and chatted about the whole experience of GOTY. There was quite a strong feeling that we didn't want one of us to be singled out as winner - we'd all put in so much. There was a real sense of dread about the result. For the final time we were royally fed and watered by Vi and Vi from Smart Cookies. Their fabulous food had kept body and soul complete for five days. But now we were just picking nervously.
The five of us waiting for the result
The two Vis from Smart Cookies. They were fabulous.
An hour, two, three hours came and went. We were taken for lunch and then returned to our private garden to wait. There was much laughter and mutual praise at first, but once we'd been waiting for 5 hours we began to get very jumpy. Each time the gate opened we all twitched, expecting to be summoned. By now, we'd run out of things to say and sat more or less in silence, waiting and thinking. Finally, the director stepped in - we were on.
Sprinting to the finishing line.
If I thought yesterday was stressful...
Time to delegate properly. I gave Hazel a list of 11 mini-projects to finish without me. She whirled into action, summoning drills, ladders, cement, vine eyes and wire and got stuck in. What a complete star she is.
I had sixty plants to get planted in 4 hours. It doesn't take a genius to work out that that is one every 4 minutes. Deduct time for at least one more test. Deduct time for clearing up and watering.
Worse, some of the plants needed to go in areas which were underlaid with hardcore from the previous paths and patios. I got hold of Jeff and pleaded - it wasn't reasonable for me to have to dig through that. He agreed (it was on the list of valid exceptions) and Geoff came on site to dig the holes. But it was very slow going and I needed to finish the water feature, lay weed control fabric and mulch with gravel around where he was working.
The 'Pot Luck' testHalf way through the morning I was summoned for the second test. Relax, said Joe, this one's just a bit of fun. A bit of fun!! These guys have an interesting sense of humour... I felt I'd made a reasonable stab at two of my three questions and sprinted back to the garden. I'd lost about 15 minutes, with filming re-takes and we were now seriously up against it.
Mike's requestAt about midday Joe summoned us to Mike's garden. Mike couldn't finish without hard landscaping help for an hour. Would we grant it? We tried to negotiate. Could we all have help? Could the other four have an extra hour instead? It was all no. We were to vote on whether Mike could have help, that was all. Of course we said yes, unanimously. (Curiously, this was completely edited out of the final programme)
Joe: 'Sue, will you finish on time?'
Me: 'I honestly don't know...'I was convinced we would get a last minute extension to 2pm, partly because they did last year and partly because of our support for Mike. But by 12.30 I still had all the gravel to do, the water feature to finish, some plants to train and a heck of a lot of clearing up. Plus watering. Joe stuck his head round the gate.
'Remember, you have to finish it to win it' he said, to no-one in particular.
I got the hint. We gave up on the weed control fabric and hit the accelerator. Jeff started heaving bags of gravel towards me.
'Where do you want them?'
'On my shoulder - one every 30 seconds!' I yelled. Geoff obliged - I carried them, split them open, poured out the contents. Hazel pushed it into place. With about 10 mintues to go we switched on the water feature and arranged the big stones - miraculously it looked OK first time.
Bodies started appearing, removing tools and unwanted materials. I barked instructions to anyone and everyone within earshot, like some mini Sergeant Major.
'That can go - I need that one - yes that's rubbish - no, to me - now!'
There was no extension. A few minutes after 1pm Joe blew the whistle and we backed out of the gate, carrying the last of the tools with us.
By the garage, a gang of people were trying to finish assembling the leaf canopy that I'd given up on an hour ago. They figured it out, and with the crew distracted for a moment, Hazel shot back into the garden and fixed it in place.
The final day - comparing notes
The bad news, delivered to us first thing by a demonically smiling Joe was that the hard landscapers are still not available. There was a murmur - but what could we do, realistically?
Before we started, we all took a look at each other's gardens (I seem to have missed out Kirby's). It's hard to tell, but we all seem to have a lot to do in the remaining 4 hours.
Martin's garden. I'd hardly seen it as I'm near the other end. I like the layout - very strong.
Lorraine's garden, looking very stylish and almost done
Mike's garden looks almost finished, but this was deceptive as it turned out.
I still have 60 plants to get in, plus a long list of other jobs.
Day three - closing report
I know we made great progress to day but we are behind schedule, despite my telling Joe that we are fine. We had to make two design adjustments today, one my fault, one not. I'd planned a small border under the window by the house, but there's a drain cover there which I wasn't told about. And we had to make the play den smaller because I didn't bring enough rubber chippings. (Note - Rachel de Thame was right - it was small. But it was planned as a den, not a play area...). So I've got quite a bit of planting to rearrange tomorrow which is playing on my mind, but I'm too tired to think about it properly.
In the video diary room I said today had been more a test of physical stamina than horticulture - and surely that's not what it's about? Perhaps I'd tried to achieve too much in three days. Even so, I'm none too happy. Tomorrow's to-do list looks impossibly long, even for three of us. If we don't get our hard landscaping help back, there's going to be a whiff of mutiny in the air tomorrow morning. Perhaps that's what they want - to up the anti a bit?
It's not a good look, is it? I'm knackered, soaked and sunburnt...
...but once we'd got cleaned up we all had a meal together, drowned our sorrow, compared grievances and had a good laugh.
Day three...
Before we got started we were gathered together by Joe for an announcement. The hard landscaping assistance was being withheld for the day - ostensibly because the guys were tired. Plainly the pressure was being wound up. Thankfully our team had done most of the hard landscaping work, but there was still so much to do that Geoff could have helped with - the path, digging out for the electrics, the lawn, holes for plants... Hazel and I knuckled down and pressed on.
By lunchtime we had finished the path and edged it, and I started on plants while Hazel finished painting the fence (poor girl, she hated that job). We still had the play area to build, the lawn to lay, a water feature to create and 60 plants to go in, plus endless minor jobs. It was seriously hot too - 82C at one point and we were struggling. Geoff could only look on and bring things to the gate. It's clear he'd have preferred to get stuck in.
The heat and tiredness got to all of us, except for Kirby who seemed to remain oddly serene and buouyant throughout. Martin was very unhappy about the withdrawal of help - it seems he'd specifically confirmed in advance that he could have help with a particular task which had now been denied to him. Jeff, the head landscaper finally needled me too. I'd nearly finished laying the path, having measured out the spacing the night before and carefully marked it up.
'If I could just offer a suggestion' he started, not for the first time that day. 'I wouldn't bother with all that measuring if I were you, just do it by eye'.
My reply was less than polite and he shuffled off through the gate mumbling something about his many years of experience, or something.
At about 4pm Hazel started on the play area, setting out the log edging. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her, forlornly flicking at bits of soil with a trowel, propped up against the garage wall. Not for lack of will, she had simply stopped, drained by so much effort. I beckoned a runner (can I have one at home please!) got tea and cake for us both and together we finished it.
Our last job of day three was the lawn. With a final burst of energy we cleared the area, levelled it, compacted it (with a bit of help from Joe) and laid the lawn in the final hour of the day. We finished at 7pm, just in time for the heavens to open and release a torrential downpour.
Our helpers taking a well earned break. From the left: Rob, Rosie, David, Hazel and Richard. (Photo courtesy of Rosie)
Day two - closing report
It felt like we'd made really good progress. Both patios were laid, the path was set out ready, Hazel had almost finished painting the fence and I'd dug the hole ready for the water feature. I had day three mentally mapped out with a list of jobs ready for Geoff and Hazel. I would finish the path and then start planting, starting with the tree and the bamboo. I think they asked me in the diary room if I was on schedule. 'Yes' I said confidently, 'we'll finish on time'.
As it was my birthday, I was granted special permission for a visit by my husband David and youngest daughter Holly. We all went out for a meal together and I opened my present - a new long lens for my trusty camera. It was all going so well.
The sun terrace with Hazel's trademark coffee stain (our carpets at home are similarly adorned)
You can see Mike, Lorraine and Martin's finished patios in the adjacent gardens
Day two - and my birthday!
I'm not shy about matters of age. Day two was also my 45th birthday. Although they only found out late the night before, Lorraine managed to conjur up a card signed by everyone made from a hotel promotional brochure - very inventive!
My birthday was spent building two patios and half a path, sweating like a glassblower in hot sun over two tons of stone, sand, cement and soil. Day two was a heavy physical slog for myself, Hazel and Geoff. Geoff was allowed to bring us materials and help with the hard landscaping, but Hazel and I did most of the slab laying and levelling ourselves. Actually, we both enjoyed it - there's a real sense of satisfaction to be gained from doing something really challenging for the first time and doing it well. My birthday could have been much worse - in the office...
We also got most of the fence painted (that orange had to go...), but not without getting most of it splattered on ourselves. One of the tasks on my pre-departure 'to-do' list that got scrapped for lack of time was 'figure out how to use the sprayer'. And it wasn't straightforward, much to the amusement of the camera team who found themselves filming something resembling a Chuckle Brothers sketch. So funny was it that the three of them stepped back onto our newly laid, still soft patio. That was less funny.
The dreaded pest and disease quiz...But the defining moment of day two was the much dreaded pest and disease quiz. I went first and was led by Joe to a large white van parked on a side street. I would have 90 seconds to identify 5 problems on 5 plants and to name an organic solution for each one. I took a deep breath, the van door was flung open - and I saw a sea of plants.
'Er, which ones?'
'The five with the labels on - hurry!' Joe urged.
I peered at the five nearest the front. One looked scorched, another chlorotic. I wasn't sure. 'That's 60 seconds, Sue.' I babbled full pelt for 30 seconds, mumbling about ph, watering, possible mineral deficiencies, and then Joe clicked the stopwatch off.
One by one I watched the others being led to the van, like lambs to the slaughter. Afterwards only Martin seemed unfazed. At this stage I didn't know he was a barrister, but no doubt his forensic mind helped him sift calmly through the problems. Poor Lorraine though. After anticipating it for most of the day, she was as tightly strung as a violin wire when her turn came, and the pressure was huge. She came away from the test in tears, furious with herself for cracking and equally furious with the camera crew for witnessing it.
Day one - progress report
By the end of the first day, we had two level areas filled with compressed MOT for our patios and part of the trellis was up. We were a bit behind plan - I'd not expected as much of a slope towards the house as there was and I really wanted to get the levels right - but I wasn't too worried. I just felt huge relief to be actually doing something. It was only when I looked at everyone else's and saw that they seemed much further ahead that I was a bit alarmed. But more importantly to me, I'd marked out the outlines of the design on the real garden and felt it would work.
The day flew by in a blur, but I do remember hoots of laughter from Rosie next door (Kirby's daughter and helper). Kirby had been shown how to use the MOT compressor - the whacker plate. Trouble is he didn't know how to turn it off and was trapped, going round in circles on his patio. What had done for Rosie, though, was that he kept pleading with her to 'turn the vibrator off!'
In the diary room that night I was asked how I felt about the design. I said truthfully that I felt it was ordinary. This was fine by me, in reality. I could cope with 'ordinary'. My worst nightmare had been that the design simply couldn't work and I was fairly sure I'd avoided that.
(P.S. The observant ones amongst you will have noticed that Lorraine wore a blue t-shirt throughout filming, except in the video diaries where she is wearing black. The video diaries were filmed against a blue screen, so Lorraine would have vanished. Fortunately a senior member of the female BBC crew - who shall remain nameless for the sake of modesty - was wearing a black t-shirt which she promptly ripped off and lent to Lorraine. The sequence was filmed with the woman standing in the video room (aka, a garage) in her bra...)
Hazel still digging away at 6pm.
Len, Joe, Dennis (the director) and Jeff (head landscaper) trying to look busy....
(Photo courtesy of Lorraine)
Day one - meeting Joe and getting started
Over breakfast at the production house, a very familiar figure breezed in. It must be odd, introducing yourself every day to people who know exactly who you are. 'Hi, I'm Joe'. Well yes, we know. We all shuffled about for a few minutes, not quite knowing what to say, in my case mentally supressing questions like 'how come you look taller on the telly?'....'how well do you and Monty get on?' etc. But Joe is easy company and the nervousness soon evaporated once we all got chatting.
By 9am, breakfasted and miked up for the first time, we were raring to go. But we had been warned that the first morning would be frustrating, and indeed it was. We all had to wheel our bright yellow BBC barrows in (several times) and be introduced by Joe, while we gazed upwards into the adoring eye of the overhead camera. It was long after noon before we got started.
Joe and some of the crew, in one of their regular huddles outside our garden gates.
(Photo courtesy of Lorraine)
While we were waiting, we were introduced to our hard landscaping helpers - mine was Geoff, (he is one of the permanent team at Berryfields) - and I wasn't joking when I told him he would be the second most important person to me for the next three days, after Hazel, of course. He was, or would have been if he'd been allowed to... More of that later.
We eventually got going and once I'd marked out the hard landscaping lines with string and pegs we started digging.
First impressions...
The gardens are on a new estate with part finished roads and other houses still under construction so hopefully the residents are used to disruption. Just as well really - the access road behind our gardens is a mass of vans, cables, people, building equipment and sand bags. We unloaded into the garage and had our first look at our plot. As anticipated, it was bare topsoil with a very orange fence. I knew it would be north facing - what I hadn't appreciated was that the houses were three stories high - these really will be shady gardens.
The scene outside our garden back gates
Later at the hotel, we all got together for our briefing meeting with the director, Dennis, and the rest of the BBC team. Naturally, the most important matter for all of us was the colour of our team t-shirts. Hazel and I got dayglo pink - not a colour either of us would choose but we weren't going to argue. Dennis called us his 'stars' but somehow we all instintively felt that 'pawns' woould be more accurate. Fundamentally, the message was if he tells you to jump, you simply ask 'and how high would that be?'.
By early evening all the participants and helpers had met and were getting on wonderfully. Hazel and I were on even more intimate terms with Lorraine's helper David. Following a mix up with room numbers which is too tedious to explain, Hazel tried to get into the wrong room. A friendly, topless chap answered the door, guessed that we were with the programme and introduced himself as David.
So I was finally there, stressed, tired enough to sleep for a week, but too adrenalin primed to sleep much at all. There was no backing out now.
Preparation over, time to go
I've spent so much energy on the garden that I only remembered about packing for me this morning. I'm going to be on camera for 4 days and I don't know where any of my clothes are. I had no clean underwear and nothing smartish to wear in the evenings. I put an quick clothes wash on, pulled a couple of worn-once tops out of the washing basket, ran an iron over them and stuffed them in a bag alongside my Pests and Diseases book and my big RHS plant book - as if I'd have time for swotting...
It took forever to load the van - just so many small things to remember - specific tools, vine eyes, plant ties, receipts, compost, crocks, drawings - the list was huge. It was tighter than I expected - Hazel ended up with our personal bags under her feet and a bag of rubber mulch on the spare passenger seat. But it all went in and we were off to a barrage of phone calls, hugs and good luck text messages.
Van day...
Thursday morning...Hazel and I spent the morning working through the 'things we must take' list, thinking of things we'd forgotten (not much), looking for tools I'd misplaced (lots) and going over everything again and again.
Midday came and went and no van arrived. My friend Jacqui arrived with some good luck balloons and a birthday card for Sunday. 'Presume that's your van over the road?' she said. Parked outside the house was a very large, white Hertz van. It turned out they'd parked it up and left the keys at our business office over the road. It was now 2pm and I had a 2 hour round trip at least to collect all the plants and an absolute deadline of 5pm for my final plant list.
Thursday afternoonI got to the college nursery to collect the all important bamboo and Sorbus, plus a few others. The Sorbus had tipped over and looked badly dried out. Too late to change it now - it would have to do. Off to Lane End to complete yesterday's aborted collection and home for 4.40pm. Just time to unload all the plants, lay them out on the lawn, move them around and make final decisions. I ditched the prized Luzula and one of the Phormiums. Go for one obelix rather than two. I dashed off the revised spreadsheet to the Beeb just before 5pm.
My last minute reductions released about £95 for extras. I rubbed the metaphoric lamp and my genie appeared in the shape of my shopping addict neighbour, Chris. We zipped off to the local garden centre and bought patio furniture, candles, and hanging brackets for the bird bath.
Somehow that night we also loaded my father-in-law's van with all the paving. It all starts for real tomorrow.
The last full preparation day
Today vanished in a blur of tasks completed and tcked off, and tasks deleted for lack of time. We don't have time to repaint the rabbit run or the trellis. The acrylic mirror should have arrived yesterday but now it will be tomorrow morning, an hour before we are due to leave. No problem, we'll include it if it's here and we won't if it's not.
Frustratingly, I went to one of the nurseries that has some stock reserved for me - and they are closed on Wednesdays. I stood forlornly at the gate, knowing my plants were in there somewhere and drove away empty-handed. Tomorrow is going to be manic - I now have to collect three lots of plants 40 miles apart and make my final decisions about planting when I get them back here. (I know I should be able to choose them without seeing them, but I just can't).
The ever growing to-do list
The 'to-do' list spans 2 sides of A4. Then there's the 'things we must take with us' list and 'plants to get today' list. Sleep is at a premium and I'm not thinking very straight so I'm worried about what isn't on any list because I've forgotten about it completely. As for contributing to the general running of the household - well I've no idea what's going on around me.
Whose bright idea was this?
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...
Part of my finished garden.
