Chesea 2009 Freshly Prepped Other Piccys

  

 

Chelsea 2009 Freshly Prepped Celeb Photos

Andy Sturgeon, Jenny Bond & Me, Hannah Gordon, Rosie Harkness and me

Chelsea 2009 After the show

Well I've been very naughty since i haven't posted a blog for several days, but hopefully will be forgiven - we have been so busy, and then got home late on Saturday after the show, and spent nearly 2 days sleeping/chilling etc. Anyhow, you will probably all know by now that we were awarded a Silver Flora Medal, which we are proud of, but I really would have preferred a gold! Maybe next time................. we have had such am amazing week, press day was awesome, with the media showing lots of interest, 2 journalists were actually arguing over who could interview me first (amazing!), but the very best of all is that the public loved it! I cannot tell you how many lovely comments we have had from the visitors, if i ever do it again i will definately have a visitors book next time, and ask people to write down all their lovely lovely comments. We were visited by a selection of celebs including Hannah Gordon, who is charming,Jenny Bond also truly lovely, and we then managed to get a huge amount of coverage on BBC TV including interviews by Jo Swift, Andy Sturgeon, Rachel De Thame, and Lisa Tarbuck. It has been an amazing experience.
A really big thankyou to all my friends who came and helped with the build and with manning the garden during show week - Janie, Mandy , Ellie, Maria, Julie, Colin, Ian, Steve & Mandy, Ruth, Liz, Jill, Heike, Karen, Hazel, Tristen & David - I am indebted to them for their help they gave freely x (hope i haven't forgotten anyone)
Further thanks of course to Geoff, Stu, Mark, Neil & Bob who built the garden, and special thanks to my financial sponsors, Pawley & Malyon, Heather Barnes Property & Investments, Attwaters and other sponsors Waitrose and Absentia.
It was a great experience and I look forward to building many more.......................
Pat

Chelsea Day 8 - 3 days to go

Well yesterday was truly a fantastic day, arrived at site with the garden covered in tarpaulin and not a single plant planted - left with tarpaulin gone and every single last plant installed in the garden! An amazing effort by the team - a huge thankyou to my helpers for the day, Julie, Ellie, Karen, Mandy, Liz and Neil (Eco Lutions). We didn't leave site till pretty late, but we didn't manage to polish off a couple of bottles of wine to celebrate. Garden is now looking truly scrumptious, I am so pleased with how it has come together, it is almost exactly as i had imagined. We are getting so many lovely comments from passers by, certainly makes all the hard work and effort feel worth while. Got to do a big tidy up today, and need to titivate the plants, and get rid of all of the bad leaves etc. Must go, looking forward to today.

Chelsea 2009 Build Day 6 - only 5 days to go

Yesterday was a thrilling, but a very very long day. We needed to start to get the kitchen units stained up and this was going to be a big problem with both the weather, and the heavy blossom that still continues to fall at chelsea. We had to erect a large tarpaulin cover over the whole of the garden to create a clean, dry environment. As luck would have it the BBC turned up to film us just as we had got the tarpaulin up and cleaned all of the site - this meant of course that they couldn't film unless we took the whole lot down - something which we really didn't have time to do - what a shame! Proportion of London, very kindly lent us one of the 'Varnishers' to carry out the staining, and in fact Des is back again today to finish the job - big thankyou to Des, and of course my hubby Keith for loaning us Des. Our landscaping team spent the whole day finishing off the hard scape and solving all those niggly little corners etc, big big thank you to Mark of Terra Firma, who didn't get home until gone 10pm last night! They have done an amazing job, and the garden is beginning to look brill.

We finally managed to start to move some of the plants into the growing trays at 8pm last night - very very exciting - it is now beginning to actually look more like a garden. So looking forward to a enjoyable day to day, hope to get all the plants laid out, and if possible to start planting some of them up. Janie and Mandy did a bit of creative planting design to my planters, they were supposed to be being planted with Nasturtiums, but since these are far from in flower, they have come up with a lovely alternative....................you'll have to come and see the garden to find out what they've done.

Must go have got to get back up to Chelsea and our plants.

Chelsea 2009 Build Day 4 - only 7 days to go

Such an exciting (& stressful day) today! But wow we now have our Edible Wall in place at Chelsea............and it looks fabuloso. Mark Laurence came up and between him and his team put it together, with its own irrigation system. The crops currently look just a little sad, but hopefully by morning they will have perked up a bit. Wrapped them in horticultural fleece overnight so they don't sulk too much out in the cold at last.

Stu & Mark (Terra Firma) had a productive day, drainage system for the waterproof growing trays now in place, work surfaces fine tuned and fitted (with a bit of tweaking here and there), started to finish the hardwood cladding - first job for tomorrow. Neil (Eco-Lutions) doing an amazing job with the lighting - and electrics generally - we now have a fully functional wine chiller, so first job of the day for me tomorrow, to get some wine to chill down - we've promised ourself a little drink or two tomorrow! Lighting and electrics now fully functional, the LED strip lights in the upright pergolas look AMAZING! Overhead task lighting being fitted tomorrow. Its all coming together and just getting more and more exciting...........beginning to feel very nervous, butterflies in the tummy, just need to hold it together for a wee while longer.

Praying it doesn't rain tomorrow, we still need to get ALL of the wood stained, may need to erect a huge tarpaulin so we can stain even if it rains!

Hubby and daughter now having a go, saying why i haven't mentioned them on my blog, so here we go, hubby Keith, cooking, shopping and looking after house and kids while mum is off doing her Chelsea stuff. Youngest daughter Francesca (14) thinks I've disowned her, and she has a GCSE next week! Olderst daughter Anouska (16) had her first AS level today, mum not even around to show moral support! What a crap mum?

Anyhow Chesky now wants to have her say......................

'mum has officialy been taken over by the world of chelsea! we thought the lecturing on the latin names of plants was bad enough but now we have the constant talk of 'freshly prepped' and how it's coming along. Nevertheless i think the household is pretty excited and proud of mum - somewhere deep under all the fights with a stressed out mum :P mums been proudly showing us the pictures of the garden so far, and it all looks really good. cant wait to come visit her and help her with it. wishing her luck and the rest of the showcasers too. hoping she wins a medal, even if we wont stop hearing about it til she's old and wrinkled!'

I will take that as a complement - I thought Chesky always thought i was old and wrinkled already.........time to sign off have a glass of wine before it all starts again tomorrow.

Chelsea 2009 Build Day 2 - 9 days to go

Well we had a fantastic day yesterday, the team got so much done and we are very much still on schedule - which is a relief. Managed to get most of the units into position and re adjusted, was quite amusing getting our Wine chiller into situ, got lots of interest from the neighbouring teams, asking if they could keep their wine chilled in our fridge! The kick boards went in (for the first time) and they really do finish it off very well. Neil from Eco Lutions got the first set of LED strip lights put into the pergola uprights - they look amazing, even in day light you can see the effect, can't wait to see what they look like at night! Dashed off to Peter Jones to purchase a kettle, needed one for the garden anyway, but came in jolly useful yesterday making teas and coffees for the team.

Neil brought the Waterproof Tv with him anyway (even though we're pretty sure we can't use it on the garden) still trying to talk the RHS into letting us use it in the midst of our Edible Wall. Will talk to the show manager again on monday, but they have already said no, so it will probably be a no.....................

The team are back on site today, I am having a day off, before my run of 13 solid 12 hour days. sounds like they are already having a good day, spoke to Tristen a short while ago and apparently the hard wood cladding is now in place on the curved frontage - something of a transformation I'm told , can't wait to see it tomorrow.

Chelsea 2009 Build Day 1 - 10 days to go

Freshly Prepped By Aralia arrived at Chelsea yesterday! We had 2 deliveries in, the first one came in by Terra Firma (our landscape contractor) who trailered in the deck frame, and materials. The 2nd delivery came in later with pretty much everything else, hardscape wise. We had a pretty good day - slightly wet to start off with, did rain a bit, but never for very long, and it didn't really hold us up that much. There was some initial confusion about exactly where the garden was to be positioned, but we finally sorted that one out and the team got cracking with the deck - amazingly even though we had some early hold ups we did get the whole of the deck down, which meant that at the end of day 1 we are on time! Well done boys...........
It's a very friendly atmosphere on site with everyone helping each other, so the neighbouring gardening teams happy to lend each other anything that the other is short of we even went scavenging in skips for odd bits of wood and brick! A big big thank you to Colin Black, Colin is one of our clients and we are in the midst of constructing his garden at present over in Old Harlow, and Colin very kindly offered to give us a hand yesterday and is also coming along one day during show week to help out - what a star! Colin was fab with the tea/coffee run and even brought the boys a supply of much needed chocolate unasked!
Looking forward to day, it should be a good one.

Our wonderful Chelsea sponsors

Well the garden is being packed up today by Tristen and Stuart, and will be being delivered to the Chelsea Showground bright and early tomorrow morning.............
Thought I would take a few moments to say some thankyou's to those companies who are sponsoring us financially:

Pawley & Malyon Chartered Accountants
A long established accountancy practice with offices in London & Bishops Stortford, they provide a complete range of accountancy services and have a broad range of clients, both corporate and private, located throughout the UK. Their team of friendly and approachable staff are highly trained and have extensive experience spanning commerce, industry and the accountancy profession itself. Pawley & Malyon have specifically kept their team small, so that each of the four partners is able to offer a high level of personal service.
www.pawley-malyon.com
t. 0207 462 9020

Heather Barnes Overseas Property Investment & Sales
Investing in overseas property can be a daunting task and it is often difficult to know where to start. At Heather Barnes they are experienced financial advisors who, ensure their clients get the best possible investment advice from people that they trust.
www.heatherbarnes.co.uk
t. 0844 669 7818

Attwater & Liell Solicitors
Attwaters are an established legal practice with a team of 10 partners, offering a wide range of services including: personal injury, clinical negligence, business & commerce, wills & probate, family and property.
www.attwaters.co.uk
t. 020 8508 2111 / 01279 638 888

Absentia
Be Safe - Be Secure
With 25 years experience, we specialise in caring for your home, garden and pets whilst you are away.
National & International Service
www.home-and-pets.co.uk


Waitrose
Recipe card supported by Waitrose, with additional ingredients also supplied by Waitrose
www.waitrose.com
t. 0800 188 884 Customer Services

Chelsea 2009 Edible Wall

Looking pretty good now.........Mark sent these through to me yesterday, at this rate by Chelsea they will definately have covered the front panels, which was always the hope. Anyhow we have a few subs in hand, just in case. Can't wait to see this up at chelsea, its going to look gorgeous!

Chelsea 2009 Worksurfaces

Russel Stone Work Surfaces have done a great job, they have now refitted the granite tops and they look superb! Big thankyou to Tony.
Still got lots more to do, Stu of Terra Firma is up again tonight carrying on with more cladding to the units and the stud walls.
We are packing the garden up tomorrow (thursday) ready for delivery to Chelsea on Friday morning - praying for good weather.

Chelsea 2009 Cusions arrive for garden.......

Great news cusions arrived and took them up to the Proportion Warehouse to make sure they fitted ..............Bad news the back cusions didn't fit - they were too tall! Oh well they looked great and we do have time to amend them, so Chloe from HGDB (Harrow Green Design & Build) has taken them away again to be sorted.......thanks Chloe. Next time they will be perfect!

At last the pergola is up

Stu (of Terra Firma our landscape contractors) was up at the warehouse working late to push the garden a bit further on. He's still working on cladding the units, but he managed to send me a photo late last night of the pergola erected, finally in place! It looks impressive! We will need to cut it down a bit, currently too high, but easier to cut metal off than add it on..............apparently we will also need to trim a little of the length off our 1.8m chopping board, but want to check this out before doing the deed.

Work tops due to be delivered today (hopefully now to the correct length).

Pat Fox MSGD (www.aralia.org.uk)

Edible Wall for Chelsea 2009 28th april

Wow, just got updated photos of the edible wall, now 1 week further on, they look fantastic, have a look.

Edible Wall for Chelsea 2009

Finally got round to uploading the pictures of the Edible Wall for Chelsea, these were taken just after the salad plugs were planted into the wall - thanks Mark they look great!

EdibleWall

फिनाल्ली गोत राउंड तो uploading

Only 3 weeks and 1 day to go.........the pressure is really building. We hope to have the garden pretty much pre-built by the end of this week, in a warehouse in Walthamstow. We've had a few hiccups along the way:

1) Pergola collection; van wasn't big enough to take the 4.2m span of metal! so had to send separate courrier
2) Granite work surface got cut to wrong size - its a long story won't bore you with it.
3) Holes on pergola not quite right size for the LED strip lights inside

.................anyhow, at the end of the day, all have been rectifiable so no real problems.

Got a lovely photo of the newly planted edible wall, will upload a picture.
Pat Fox 27.4.09

March 25th 2009 - 12 weeks to go

This is our first entry...its been a long journey even to here and there is so much more to do. We hope to update this blog on a regular basis so all can see how the Courtyard Garden is developing.
Will keep you posted
Pat