2 weeks today we will be onsite. EEEK
Oddly I haven’t done this kind of counting down for a long time, normally I don’t need, or get, this much headspace to plan forward in so much detail. I used to do this a lot in my corporate days, and of course waiting for holidays to arrive!
This last week I have honed my Twitter-ese skills of cramming as much meaning into as few characters, or words to be precise, as possible . The CLIENT BRIEF for our show garden Inner Sanctum had to be reviewed, updated and submitted. This is our chance to review what we said 6 months ago about what we would present in July. The RHS and judges know only too well how pear shaped things can go in a short space of time, so we get a chance to review, laugh loudly at our original plans and re-write a more realistic client brief to reflect what we are ACTUALLY going to be able to deliver come July 18th and RHS judging day.
Of course even at this stage in our garden it is predicted that things will go according to plan. On Monday I discovered a fixed length cobble sett wasn’t in fact fixed length but ranged from 150-300 and at the end of last week the two biggest base bowls for our water feature, cracked and broke due to their monumental sizing and the intense heats within the firing process. Lots of things are being done for the first time here and it makes it risky.
We lost the chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium) too this week. I am sad about this, it simply turned purple, then yellow then died back. Possibly it’s norm as it’s a biennial but nevertheless disappointing, 20 plants in the compost. Onwards. The Dill (Anthemum graveolens) also died, rotted off in the constant rain we’ve been having. On the upside the Cobaea scadens I am growing on the south facing window sills of the house are galloping away, trying to reach the top of the window frames (2m tall) in record time. I shall pot them on into 3ltr pots and hope they start to flower by showtime.
Also todo this week has been the flyer artwork. We have been advised to bring 7k leaflets (that’s 1160 to give out a day, including press day !). The Show Board artwork which includes logo’s and finalising sponsors and contributors. When time is short it is best to pick and idea and make it work rather than deliberate over several ideas. I know, obvious to some.
Also completed this week is the new website for our collaboration. With the revolting wet weather we have been having I was housebound on Thursday morning instead of being out working. So I turned it to good use and built a simple website. www.archangelicadesigns.co.uk let me know what you think!
Our interview a few weeks back with Alice Ryan of the Cambridge Magazine has now been published, which is exciting and daunting. My show garden partner Charlotte’s garden was wonderfully captured by Keith the charming and efficient photographer
Still to be done this week is sourcing the fence boards and finalising lots of delivery slots. It really seems never ending at the moment.