Well its wednesday 15th July 2009 and its now officially (well was yesterday at about 2pm) that after a year of planning, numerous forms filled in, 14 hot days of building the garden, 7 days of handing out leaflets and answering the same question day in day out and two days to break down the garden my hampton court experience is all over. Well its certainly been an emotional experience, yes being award a silver gilt medal for my design is fantastic, though i'm rather disappointed mainly at myself that my design wasn't good enough for a gold medal but I can't please everybody. The garden itself looked fantastic and looked better then i could every imagine, the red wall which was a bold move, worked fantastic with the betula's situated in front of it bringing out the colour of its beautiful white stem. The beech helped tone down the colour of the wall and despite having to pick off all last season's leaves worked really well aswell. The planting was also a massive success so thanks to Chris and his Team who done a fantastic job. The planting really help create the tranistion between the two elements of bringing the Rural environment into a more urban asa per the brief.

When the show open it was great to hear such positive feed back from both the RHS members and the general public. It was really pleasing to hear so many people speaking to me on the garden that my garden was the one of the best show garden at the show this year. It was also pleasing for me the designer to see all genrations from the very young to the retired enjoying my garden which was a shock as i only thought that people of my age would get the feel for the garden, so that was good.

Before i go i must say that it really was good to get to meet James Wong. He's written a couple of books, had a tv series and has also designed two show gardens, one at hampton court and one at Chelsea. He was probably one of the nicest tv personalityies in the garden world i have met and was really easy to talk to in between takes. He mentioned to me that he had seen my breif about the garden and was wondering how anybody could bring two separate environments into a garden and blend them together but was shocked in a good way when he saw my garden and said that it worked really well and looked fantastic.

Anyway I would like to thank everybody who has helped me on my garden and couldn't have done it with out you from Chris and his team at Bushy Business, GHS for sponsoring the plants for the garden all the various supplyiers, my parents for putting up with me and helping with the garden and anybody else i have missed. Over the past four weeks i have met some really nice people, made some new friends and despite being the centre of jokes from the other designers i can say that i don't want to see Hampton court again for a few months, its been another great experience for me but right now i want to return back to normailty, its been great but also very tiring and all i have to do now is plant 600 odd plants, 6 gigantic trees and 14 big hedges around the school so the work isn't over yet. Till Next Time

Thanks for reading and sharing in my experience.

Ian Rochead
Silver Gilt Medalist Hampton Court Palace Flower Shows 2009- Small Garden Catergory

So after 1 year of planning and 14, long, hot sticky days of construction 'URBANISE' is finally complete and what a joy and relief that it is. On Monday it really seemed that we had a long way to go and it would never be finished, we've had to over come major problems and all of the team are exhausted but the end result is just fantastic and I'm so over the moon on how the garden looks, its even better then i could ever imagine and I'm the one who designed it. Firstly i would personally like to thank Chris, David, Duncan and Hoff from Bushy Business who have put blood, sweet and tears into this garden working from 7 am till 9pm nearly ever day to get this garden complete, I wouldn't of been able to do it with out you guys so thanks very much. Also thanks to Rosy, Rob, Hilliary and all the team at Hardy's Nurseries who have been marvellous with supplying all of the plants even when we needed extra so thank you to all of you. And also to all of the suppliers who helped make URBANISE Possible and to Guildford High School for putting funds into the garden. Anyway I'm off to get some sleep ready for another long day tomorrow for press Day and the gala night. Its also judgement day tomorrow so lets see what they think of the garden. I'll hopefully blog again through the week. Thanks for reading Ian

Sorry that I haven't updated since Friday but its been a few hectic days where we have encountered a few crucial problems that have taken 2 days to fix but hopefully it is all sorted and will work fine. So that last couple of days we've put the shingles up on the side wall that look fantastic, put the floating steps in which look really nice as well attaching the sedum matting surrounding the steps, Installed the light system in the steps to highlight the threads though at the show you won't really get the effect because it will still be light when people leave but its the small details that matter. We've also started planting the main plants and have completed the raised bed which again really connects with the whole garden and we have also started the path but then ran out of gravel so had to stop. All in all the garden is coming along though there is only 5 days left and alot left to do but what ever happens we have to finish by 7am Monday so the pressure is really on.

I'm not going to bed uploading as many pictures as i don't want to spoil the garden before people see it for real but by the end of the show all my photos will be online. I'll try and update later on in the week.

Well I've finally managed to find time to update my blog, sorry for the delay but we are working from 7am till about 9pm on site and then have to upload all my pictures and complete paperwork so haven't found the time to update date. Anyway 5 days in and I'm really pleased so far how the garden is looking, its looking so much better then i could of imagined. Alright its been along 5 days and have had lots of problems like the wall somehow eating around 30 litres of paint, but the end result is fantastic despite everybody on site thinking it was going to be pink as this was the colour it looks like before it dries. The trees and hedges arrived on site on Wednesday and they where a bit of a headache to put in but again time well spent. The Rhus in the raised bed is fantastic as its really the first time i have seen it really in leaf and the umbrella shape is perfect for the garden. The 5 Silver Birch trees are also amazing, just the right size and they two look stunning, especially against against the crimson wall and the deep green of the beech hedge. We had another problem today with the water feature, despite how many times we put the pumps together they wouldn't stop leaking but 2.5hours later and main jubilee clips later we've managed to sort the problem nut was very worrying for a hour at least. We also attached the first batch of sedum matting to the framework and set behind the water features they look amazing and look so much better in real life then in my head. The team also started on the raised bed but again have come across another problem but hopefully will be fixed in the next couple of days so fingers crossed. Other then that we've managed to do lots in five days but are really only half way there so still so much to do. I would though like to thank all the team. Chris, David, Duncan and Hoff for all their hard work, working long hours it is much appreciated guys. I'll update again over the weekend in the mean time I'll keep uploaded the photos every night. Thanks again for all the support.

Well what a day, Its just gone 10 pm, i've only been home for just under an hour after starting on site at about 7.15 this morning. Many thanks goes to my team who are constructing the garden who are willing to stay longer mainly on the first couple of days to get the garden constructed. Its much appreciatied guys. Anyway Hampton Court is so different from when we done the build up for Chelsea, there are only 13 small gardens and we are all the way over the other side of the showground and so far really have our side of the show ground all to ourselves which is really nice. There isn't the hussel and bussel like at Chelsea when you have streams of traffic passing you every minute and artic lorries trying to turn sharp corners and people on mega phones shouting at you every five minutes to keep to the path and mind your back, its just different and in a way much better as everybody seems that much charmer. We havn't really spoken to many of our neighbours as as soon as we got on site we just got on with what needed to been done and just kept on going till closing time. As by the picture you can see that the back wall is up ALREADY and will be rendered tomorrow. The side wall is halfway up and again will be painted tomorrow and we will start digging out for the rest of the site tomorrow aswell. Anyway i'm going to get some rest for another busy day tomorrow.

After nearly a year in planning, in just under 3 days my plan that has been sitting on my drawing table will start to come to life. Exciting times you would think but there is still a lot of work for myself to do between now and Monday. I need to finish giving all the oak a quick sand and then 2 coats of oil so all we have to do when it gets on site is to bolt it together, I still need to pick up the odd essential items like cement, sand and wood for the framework, pick up all the construction tools, pick up the van we need to transport everything to the showground aswell as making sure all the necessary paperwork is sorted out before we leave on Monday and finally make sure all my contractors and suppliers have the necessary tickets to gain access to the site so not much to do. Hopefully on Monday once the site is marked out, the foundations are put in the ground and the first block is laid hopefully i'll be able to relax and enjoy the experience and fingers crossed everything will go smoothly.

Just a reminder that i'll be updating the blog hopefully every night and will post pictures of the days events. So till Monday have a good weekend

Good Evening. I've just got back from another visit to the school where after about 3 weeks and about 23 hours of work finally all of the sedum matting have been attached to there plywood base which will make it easier to fix to the decking once on site. The sedum matting now have 2 weeks and 3 days to recover and flourish. The ones that where complete last week are looking really healthy and are starting to flower which is great news. A few more days of weather like we are having will be just what they need.

Now with one problem out of the way I now turn my hand to another, making the cupboard door, the cupboard it self and the planters, so still loads of things to do in just under 2 and a half weeks before the team and I head down to the palace.

I spent the whole of this last weekend sorting out the deck frame work, making sure all measurements are correct, because everything in the garden is measured around the deck area and if this is wrong then it puts everything else out of place, so the deck framework has to be correct. Sounds easy but when you put something that is all different sizes around the deck (i.e the sedum matting) it makes it that little bit more difficult. We have to allow for this and amend the deck frame work accordingly so when the deck boards go on they over hang the sedum matting thus hiding the soil and plywood they are attach to, so all you see is the ends of the deck boards and the sedum itself. Its all very confusing but we think we've cracked it. In two weeks I'm going to loosely attach all of the matting to the deck frame just to make sure its all ok for when we go to the show. I'd rather have problems now then when where up there.

Also on the weekend we think that we've sorted the problem with the steps, because the steps are going to be counter levered they will look like they are floating and to stop any movement alot of work has to be done inside the deck area to stop this, with bracing and what not, again its all very confusing but hopefully the effect will be wonderful. That's all for now, till next time happy gardening.