The Chelsea Diaries: Where did March go?

As I write this it is snowing again and only two degrees centigrade. The plants are almost all inside, snug and protected in polytunnels and glasshouses to protect them from the icy wind. Sorry to go on about the weather yet again but is really is becoming a worry. I firmly believe in nature catching up eventually but let us hope this will be by mid May rather than early June.

By now we would normally have set out much of the structure on the permeable polythene sheet on the nurseries to get a feel for how it is all going to fit together. However I am not going to subject any of the plants to these arctic conditions so that must wait a week or so longer.

In the meantime we have set out some elements of the structure including the iron gate, kissing gate and a mock up of the summerhouse and ruined wall. This helps us all to visualise the garden and the scale of it. It also highlights certain questions such as how we deal with our boundaries so that they work both from our side and our neighbours.

Coincidentally, whilst standing on garden layout at the nurseries I received a call from Jinny Blom who is our neighbour at the show and is creating the garden for Sentebale. We are both keen to ensure that our the common boundary looks good from both sides and we have now agreed how we shall deal with this to get the best effect. It is so important to resolve these questions before starting on site if you can, it can save a lot of time during the build up.

It is probably still too early to be certain but with the low light levels and temperatures persisting it may be that this year the flowers of Wisteria and some of the Crataegus and Malus which are normally past their best by Chelsea could be just right.

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