Tatton Park diary

Monday was the last push to get the show garden finished.

The gardens either side of us were complete – but to be fair to us, they were simpler with much less planting.

The water feature (a rill) needed lowering, and this would mean removing it and digging down further.

As we were short of help we sent Tania off with her best smile to get help – it didn’t take her long, and soon Tania and her new assistants had removed the mdf box that was supporting the liner. But, disaster! The box had collapsed with all the rain.

Fortunately, after initial panic, the remedy was quite simple. We just replaced the sides and left out the base. The sides would support the liner. It turned out we didn’t really need a base as the liner sat against the soil and held the water.

Once the water feature was sorted out I was able to squeeze into the narrow space and plant up the final bed. The students were applying the finishing touches with paint and polish. At 8.30pm Peter finally started to fill the rill with water.

On Tuesday (judging day) we arrived on site to find that the wind had made the top of the tree turn and the join was now exposed. There didn’t seem any point in trying to repair it in the torrential rain and wind, but we were worried about the judging. We asked the designer next door and he assured us that judging had taken place, and that the garden had been judged before the tree had been damaged. We will have to make our repairs before the public see the garden on Wednesday.

4.30pm – The medals are brought around. SILVER GILT! The students are ecstatic. This has been their first experience of building a show garden and they have done brilliantly. Each agrees that next year they will build one of their own. They’ve got the bug and they’ve got the skills – well, that’s what the college is there for isn’t it?