Productive day wood chopping

Brian's brother Chris and nephew Harrison came over today, so we could make a start on the planters for the show garden , we moved the planks , took off the metal grips , scraped off cement , then the dusty job of planing them . Then the football started so Brian and Chris disappeared for a while , though Brian did manage to make a great roast at the same time . After lunch we cut the lengths and mitered the corners and assembled two of the planters . They look just how I imagined . Solid and chunky. Good job guys !!

  

So many jobs to do

Busy, busy, busy . Putting together funding bids for the arts program , collecting more oil drums , quoting for garden design jobs , visiting reclamation yard sprigs in Peterborough ,I was really pleased because he had sourced me some man hole covers for the show garden. Life is definitely not boring at the moment ! Then this evening I couldn't resist any longer so got back to my favorite pastime at the moment metal cutting this oil drum is a tester and I'm really pleased with how it has turned out . 

New toys are the best

I've got a new toy! And I have been having a blast all day , this is what I've been looking for for years ! What could it be? I hear you say - a plasma cutter,  it's brilliant . I cannot believe how much fun cutting metal could be. The delivery came this morning and dad was around "is that it " ? He proclaimed at the size of the box it came in it was quite small . I was glad he was here to help me set it up . It didn't take long to get the air compressor connected and we were ready to begin . We both had a go at cutting into an oil drum which had been cleaned out. It was so much fun I decided to draw a pattern on a narrow piece of steel to experiment , I was well chuffed with my first attempt , what do you think ?

 I'm sure there's plenty of room for improvement, but in sure I will have lots of fun practicing .

Hampton court site visit

Today Brian and I went down to Hampton court palace for a site visit , it was really good to meet some of the show team and find out lots of info about the build up etc . It was also really interesting to meet some of the other designers and see the designs that are going to come to life in July . our show garden position looks great and the grounds look so different now compared with when the show is in place, there are even deer roaming around at the moment . The Hampton court palace gardens were lovely especially the impressive yew trees and blossom with daffodils . The only downside to the day was the traffic on the A1 and M25 oh well you can't have it all .

Collecting some goodies

It's been a fun day today and I really feel like the project is moving from paper to reality. The garden is going to be built from reclaimed and recycled industrial materials scaffold boards for the benches , deck, and planters. Expanded Metal for the underplanted stage , oil drums for the edible grow zone and feature at the back of the garden. I am amazed at the generosity of local companies Earls scaffolding in Yaxley have donated two pallets of used scaffold boards Mark and his dad were so nice and helpful they even loaded them onto the trailer for us. Vivacity and the Key theatre have oil drums left over from a performance last year. So today we went and collected the oil drums and scaffolding so that we can begin to build the elements (when I say we it usually means me and Brian , me coming up with ideas and Brian having to figure out how to make it happen ((sorry Brian I must remember to show him more appreciation as he usually gets the hard work and not much of the glory)) 

Let the show garden adventure begin !

So I haven't posted for a while , what with hibernating for winter and missing the sunshine . I've been busy behind the scenes designing a show garden for RHS  Hampton court palace flower show in July . The garden is going to be an urban space for arts and entertainment organization Metal. Last year I was lucky enough to work as one of four bursary artists on the brilliant "upon this rock " lantern parade . When they found out I was also a garden designer and did so well at Harrogate autumn flower show they offered to support me in fourfiling my dream of creating a garden at Hampton court. So we got together with Sophie Antonelli from the greenbackyard to design a garden for Chauffeurs cottage in Peterborough , it needed to be flexible so that a couple of cars could still park and feature a stage for performances, space to grow herbs, fruit and veg , bring trees into the space and generally turn a car park into a lively and creative space to spend time and work in. The challenge for this design has been to create a show  garden design that has the same elements as the Metal garden and work equally well for both .Here is the design which I'm so happy to say has been selected for Hampton court !