The Hedge

We had already selected well established field grown plants at Greenmile Trees that would be suitable for our native mixed hedge - hawthorn, blackthorn, beech and alder. The nursery lifted and potted these, and secured them to the tree line in readiness for the executioner - that's Clive Braddock the hedge layer

...and to their new home

We then transported them up the A1 to Greenmile trees, where they were potted up straight away and secured on the nursery's irrigation line. Over the next few months they will receive a similar level of care as a patient in intensive care!

Lifting the hazel

The hazel reside in an ancient woodland at Hill Holt Wood near Newark, where an environmental social enterprise is based. Amongst other things the woods are used as an eduational resource and it is with the help of some of the staff and students that we lifted the hazel. It seemed quite a brutal job and only justifiable in the knowledge that the plants would be lavished with care and replanted in the woods in the autumn.

And so to work

With the go ahead from the RHS two things needed immediate attention - lifting and potting up the coppiced hazels, and lifting, potting up and laying the hedge. These are by far the riskiest elements of putting the garden together, and in an ideal world doing this in the autumn, or even a year earlier, would have given the plants more time to get over the shock and ensure they looked their best for the show. However it is now late February and we may need some help from the Green Man.

There's no 'i' in team!

First of all an apology to anyone who has returned to our blog to find no new postings. Lack of time is one side effect of doing a garden at Hampton Court! We will endeavour to be regular bloggers from now on and catch up as quickly as possible with what has happened to date.

Having a good idea is one thing, executing it is another, the 'who', the 'how' and where is the money going to come from. Our plans were provisionally accepted back in mid February, subject to us satisfying the RHS on these points, but in the current economic climate it has proved difficult to secure financial backing. In end it has only been a generous grant from the RHS (some horticultural 'quantitative easing') and equally generous contibutions from a number of people and businesses, in terms of materials, expertise and time. We are very grateful to all of them.

You will meet the team as the blog continues but for now they are Hill Holt Wood, Greenmile Trees, Hanbeck Natural Stone, Olsen Landscapes, Andy Craig (dry stone waller), Clive Braddock (hedgelayer) and Alison Walling (environmental artist)