Roger - Tatton Blog

Silver-Gilt

Roger — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:36:31 +0000

Thought you might like a look!

Just in case you didn't believe it!

SILVER-GILT!!

Roger — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:33:49 +0000

Found out on the internet that we have been awarded a silver-gilt for the garden, I’m really pleased but still a bit numb and shocked and I don’t think it has quite sunk in yet.

That's my name!

We were assessed by 2 of the judges last night for about 20mins (unfortunately they should have been with us at 5.30pm but didn’t arrive until 7.30pm!) and then all the judges came round this morning at about 11.40am – again for about 20mins. We were unsure as to when we would find out the results, but we told it could be about 5ish. However, myself and Jonathan needed to be back at Bridgemere to sort out the final few things for the actual show opening tomorrow and we both needed some rest after 8 and 9pm finishes the last few nights, so we returned in the hope that JR would inform us if the results did come out this evening.

However, I checked on the internet at about 4.30pm and there was nothing, but after going to Asda for some much needed supplies I tried again and there were the results – not quite how I had imagined we would find out but never mind.

Super veg!

I just want to thank Maile, Becky, Geoff, Binnsy, Danny, Mike and everyone else that helped me and Jonathan achieve this great honour.

Unfortunately only Apple Juice!

Now just the 5 day show to get through and a couple of days of demolishing everything we’ve built and then I can have a few days off!

Plans already begun for next years garden………..!

Judgement day is here!

Roger — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:07:24 +0000

Sorry no time for a catch up today.

But done all we can and judging is only a few hours away, I’m really pleased with everything so we’ll just have to wait and see.

Put loads of pics on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/barosh/

Day 14 and very sorry!

Roger — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:37:23 +0000

Sorry there have been no posts since Thursday but my internet went down late Thursday and I’ve only just got it back tonight after a lot of fiddling!

Everything seems to be going okay considering the weather, the garden is looking fantastic (even if I say so myself!) but I desperately need some sleep after the last few 13-14 hour days so I will try and catch up with everything that has gone on tomorrow night. However, here is a sneak preview

Don't forget your sunglasses!

Day 11

Roger — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:13:07 +0000

Not much work on the actual garden today, although we have put up a few backboards to hold the soil from the espaliers and the Sweet Pea obelisk has been planted. The majority of the day has been taken up preparing the marquee, we have all the stands in place (for the picture boards), crates with Acers and Catalpas on them giving a wonderful backdrop to the boards and the eventual plants in front of them. The trestle tables are all in place for the selling area, log roll is positioned at the front corners of the marquee ready to be filled with colourful herbaceous. The Bridgemere signs and long picture of the greenhouses on production are all mounted on frames ready to be put up on either end of the marquee.

Minimalist planting!

We also managed to bring up about 25-30 Danish trolleys full of plants for the garden, (plenty more still to come tomorrow!) There is probably far too many for the garden but any that are left over can be used in the marquee display or in the selling area. Unfortunately the forecast doesn’t sound too good for tonight and tomorrow so we may be planting in mud!

Day 10

Roger — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:52:31 +0000

Geoff and Binnsy have been up at Tatton today and finished laying all the mypex and edging for the paths, which is a great job done, they also had a bit of time to dig over some of the borders and reported that the marquee now has its roof and sides on.

Myself and Jonathan have been through all the herbaceous plants that we have grown in large pots and selected those that will be great for the garden, the lads from Despatch have now started to collect them up ready to be transported on Friday. A lot of other plants had already been lifted and cleaned so again we chose the best ones for planting. We also started to select all the plants that will be needed for the marquee on Saturday, and those that we will be selling, so the Despatch shed is overflowing with Danish trolleys full of stock all separated into different delivery days – oh and all the stock for the garden centre is still being processed as well!

The wagon is loaded with crates, stands, trestle tables, banners etc ready to go tomorrow so we can set out the basics for the marquee. The large Acers and other large background plants are also on there so they can be positioned tomorrow.

There are 6 of us going tomorrow so we should get everything done that is planned and I’m hoping there might be time to do a bit more work on the garden, at least get all the borders dug over so that they are ready for planting on Friday.

Day 9 and some plants appear!

Roger — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:37:05 +0000

Another very productive day, although we didn’t quite get round to putting the rest of the mypex down for the paths – Geoff and Binnsy are going to do that tomorrow while myself and Jonathan spend the day at Bridgemere selecting and sorting out all the plants that we are going to use in the garden.

We started the morning by loading the big white Birch into the wagon, wasn’t too much of a problem using the forks on one of the tractors, we then loaded all the espaliers and step overs and Sweet Peas that we had prepared the night before. Once we got to Tatton a phone call to Darren produced a fork lift that unloaded the Birch and just dropped it into the awaiting hole, no mauling and no problem!

No problem!

We then finished off the fence by the side of the Birch to completely contain the garden. After this we got all the posts in for the espaliers and while myself and Geoff put up the supporting wires Jonathan started to plant the Sweet Peas. In the meantime a photographer turned up to take more publicity shots of me and Jonathan (his only 10 mins taking more like 25 mins) - just remind me that I never want to be a model putting on false smiles in embarrassing poses! Eventually we escaped back to doing some proper work and planted all the espaliers down the middle of the garden.

Well pruned sir!

It’s amazing how much time it takes to remove all their supporting canes, prune and then tie them into the wires! We then did the same for all the step over Apples that went around the fencing that gives us a U-shaped wall of fruit by the raised beds. Everything we planted was then watered and fed just before it started to rain.

Looking good!

It’s now almost looking like a garden, once the paths and edging are in the main planting will take place – probably on Friday as we need to set up the structures and boards in the marquee on Thursday (as long as it’s had it’s roof and sides put up tomorrow! You can just see the frame work in the photo above.)

Day 8

Roger — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:00:17 +0000

Well things didn’t go quite as planned – first of all we were supposed to be going in the red van, which unfortunately was still at a garage in Crewe, so Geoff and Jonathan had to drive down there to pick it up and come back to Bridgemere to collect me and our equipment. This was duly done, but in the meantime I located the purple slate and gold flint for the paths that had arrived last week. I had seen the 4 bags but not close up, so it was a bit of a shock to find 3 gold flint and only 1 purple slate, it should have been the other way round! At the moment we’re blaming Alan for this mix up, but he has redeemed himself by organizing the correct ton bags to be delivered in the next few days!

So unfortunately we didn’t arrive at Tatton until nearly midday – however, we did get on quite well, we finished marking out the paths and borders and got the arch built and sunk firmly in the ground.

Bend your backs!

We then managed to get some of the mypex down and the edging in place for the paths. We need to put the mypex membrane down to stop the slate and flint from getting mixed in with the soil from the parkland, this is so the ground can be returned to the same state as it was before we arrived. The edging is just to keep the slate and soil contained in their proper places and never the twain shall meet!

The silver river?

Jonathan also started to dig to Australia, well not quite that far, but a big hole ready for the Birch tree that we will attempt to get in the wagon and bring up tomorrow, it is in a huge pot, I just hope the 3 of us will be able to maul it around. When we got back to Bridgemere this evening we loaded the step over and espalier fruit plus the Sweet Peas for the arch onto Danish trolleys ready to load onto the wagon in the morning. So we will attempt to plant all these and finish laying the mypex on the paths, not forgetting the stakes and wires to support the espaliers!

Day 6-7ish

Roger — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:58:47 +0000

Spent the last day and a bit back at Bridgemere with the plants, I have been through the majority and rejected anything that is either too far gone or not good enough – don’t worry there is still plenty left to use!

I have removed all the flowers off the Sweet Peas and given them a good feed to encourage another flush over the next few weeks .

All the Tomatoes have had their side shoots removed and have been tied in, there are quite a few small green Tomatoes on them, which should be turning red by next week. The Peppers and Aubergines are in flower and the Cucumbers are about 4-5ins long, so the greenhouse should be full, there are also lots of Tagetes in flower to go in there and ward off any whitefly, as well as look really colourful. I have got some nice bright Coleus to go in as well, plus some flowering Chrysanths.

Tomorrow myself, Jonathan and Geoff will be at the show ground finishing off the paths and borders and erecting the arch and putting in the posts and wires for the espalier fruit. Then hopefully on Tuesday we will be ready to plant the large white birch tree and the espalier fruit. Well that’s the cunning plan!

Day 5 and much hotter!

Roger — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:29:56 +0000

We’ve had a good but shortish day, Binnsy needed to be back at Bridgemere by 3.45pm (Apparently he needed to be somewhere by 4.30, however, Despatch always have an even shorter day than usual on a Friday, so I have my suspicions!) But never mind, we still managed to build all the raised beds, and position and level them all.

The OK corral

We also had 3 tons of top soil delivered by a dumper. Geoff and Binnsy used this to raise the levels in some parts of the garden where it was a bit low, particularly beside the raised beds. While they were doing that I started to dig over the borders, the Herb garden and mark out the paths near to the gate. Some of the top soil went onto these areas to give us a decent planting depth. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to build the arch, but I did more on the paths and borders than I had planned. There was also a slight problem with building the arch – where it would need to be positioned there was 3 tons of top soil in the way! It wasn’t the best day for moving loads of soil as the sun was shining and it was getting really hot and as you can see from all the photos there is no shade anywhere (never happy!)

Ooh looking better!

Probably spend the next couple of days at Bridgemere working on the plants, then come back up here on Monday and finish the paths and borders and hopefully build the arch. I think things are pretty much on schedule so far!