Timeline
1 day to go!
18th May 2008:The team has been working so hard all week to put together the pieces of the exhibit and today was the last chance to get it finished before judging takes place on Monday. There was a long list of jobs to do at the start of the day, from tying up the
Trachelospermum and finishing the planting, to adding moss and bark mulch so that the garden looks as though it has been there for years! We received a lot of encouraging comments from people walking past our stand, and we now just have to wait until Tuesday morning to find out whether the judges liked it too!
1 week to go!
14 May 2008: The construction team are down at the showground now putting all the hard landscaping features in and the plants team are busy looking after all the plants! This has involved a lot of extra watering because of the recent heatwave but the warm weather has been beneficial in bringing on some of the plants that we weren't sure were going to be in flower! The plants team will start moving the plants down to the showground on Thursday so they have been busy sourcing trolleys, boxes and packing materials to ensure this goes smoothly!
3 weeks to go
30 April 2008: All the sections of the build are being constructed, including the brick wall, water feature and shed door so everything can be taken down ready made and fixed into place. Hopefully a near complete mock up will be achieved next Wednesday, then ready to be unassembled and loaded up in a van.
The first few days when we go down to Chelsea will be entirely the build team getting everything in place and finishing the finer detailing, such as the connection of the brick wall sections. With the planting team bringing the plants down after the few days it takes for the framework to be completed.
The height restriction for the builds in the main pavilion has given us some food for thought when adjusting the roof's pitch for the old roof tiles, but the problem solving capacity when a few people have a think together makes for quick progression.
The clay still needs to be dug up from the college grounds to create the under layer of the path, which will go down in place after the major build work is complete, ready for the planting team to walk around on putting their specimens in place and making the path look lived in.
The plant selection is bulking up and looking good, with key specimens being trained to give their best to the public.
4 weeks to go
23 April 2008: The crescendo of construction as all the framework is fitted together has given the exhibit solidity, with the planting team able to get a real life walk round to appreciate the scale and planting possibilities. The cladding has been given the base coat of paint to look weathered and is being cut to size and nailed in place. The platform on the raised supports has been cut and screwed defining the planting areas and creating the paths. Decisions about the central water feature have been confirmed and progressed with.
There have been some great finds for detailing items such as guttering, drain cover and old hinges as well as the modern solar panel. The roof tiles, edging and bricks for thresholds, bench plinth and brick wall are all on site. A taster of what is to come in a couple of weeks at Chelsea can be seen in the local Yellow Advertiser who came along today to photograph our hasty progression.
Our collection of plants is growing rapidly, and the plants team are working hard to ensure they are kept in the best possible conditions in the next 4 weeks! Some of the additions this week have been Clematis 'Lady Sensation', Athyrium niponicum var. pictum 'Burgundy Lace', Corydalis 'China Blue' and Heuchera 'Green Spice'. Photographs of most of the plants so far can be found on the Plants page.
6 weeks to go
11th April 2008: Members of the team met with Sharon and two colleagues from Essex County Council to discuss the design for the leaflet and interpretation board. We decided that it would be appropriate for the leaflets to be made from recycled paper and possibly printed using vegetable based inks and that the interpretation boards should blend in to the garden, rather than stick out. Maintenance of the plants is ongoing and various members of the team have been checking, watering and monitoring the plants we already have on site as well as trying to source more!
8 weeks to go
28th March 2008: The construction team have been doing a lot of ordering and most materials are in or on their way to our possession. We've got all the wood for the cladding and it is drying out ready to be painted black. The wood for the framework of the shed and back wall support is in the process of being cut to size and drilled and screwed together in sections so ready to be taken down to Chelsea for the final assembly. The rest of the base platform is being delivered and cut and constructed to shape next week with leeway for the water feature which is yet to have its final detail specified. The construction of the brick wall will incorporate a reclaimed oak beam which incidentally reinforces the fact that these old trees are under threat. Details such as door hinges and a drain cover have been sourced and ready to incorporate. The gravel element of the path has been sourced and stored in bags but the clay is yet to be dug from the back of campus… the edging tiles are being dug up and brought for storage shortly as well as the down pipes and guttering.
10 weeks to go
14th March 2008: The team had one final meeting before the Easter Break to check on progress with construction and sourcing materials. Andrew, Mark and other team members are going to be busy over the next few weeks contacting and visiting various nurseries to obtain perfect specimens for the exhibit. The construction team have managed to source the edging and guttering and will now be busy creating mock-ups so that we are fully prepared for build up week!
11 weeks to go
7th March 2008: Matt has been busy pricking out and potting on poppy and cornflower seedlings as well as general maintenance and watering of the plants. Other members of the team have been busy sourcing materials such as tiles for the edging, guttering, old tools and other distinctive items such as hinges and planters.
12 weeks to go
28 February 2008: The build team have met with the designer and discussed the message and function of the display.
After chalking out the design on the floor it has been amended and is now specific enough to take measurements and quantities from.
The materials to be used have been decided and people have been going to reclamation sites over essex to find the perfect parts (at the perfect price!).
The construction team have broken down into groups to focus on different areas of construction, including water feature, path, wall and shed/cladding.
Because of the short time we have actually in chelsea we have to build everything in sections here ready to be taken down.
So far a mock up of the path has been successful and materials for other parts should shortly be in our hands.
