Coppice

Post show

2009-07-19T14:20:00.000-07:00

With the show over, its time to dismantle the garden as quickly as possible. True to the theme we managed to someone who wanted to take our wall and rebuild it in their garden not far from Hampton Court, and the plants are transported to their next appointment - a permaculture garden at the CLA Game Fair at Belvoir Castle. Its a hectic life being a show plant.

That's it. Except to say thanks to everyone who generously contributed time and resources to putting the garden together. It really was a team effort. And thanks to anyone who has following the blog. Hope you have enjoyed it.

Showtime

2009-07-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

What we really want to do is go home now and sleep, but there is just the small issue of the Show itself - just 6 days of explaining what the pile of bracken in the garden is supposed to be! Unfortunately in the relief of having got to his point we forgot to take to any photos of us with our adoring public. You will just have to take our word that it that it was heaving.

Day 16 - Judgement Day

2009-07-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

Well, its a silver medal. We are really thrilled and pleased that all the hard work has been rewarded. In the end the judges feedback was that some of our plants let us down slightly (well it is a horticultural show after all) and in particular the hazels that never fully developed after the trauma of being dug out of their wood in February - we can hardly blame them.

Day 14 - Build Up (Finishing touches)

2009-07-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

A day off yesterday to recharge our batteries for a last push. Today, Sunday 5th July, we have our last change to make those finishing touches and also an opportunity for an informal chat with the judges before official judging tomorrow.

Day 12 - Build Up (Almost there)

2009-07-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

Well the end is in site. The planting was finished today barring a few ferns that are still to be collected and the leaf litter spread. And the charcoal 'pudding' got a dressing of bracken and moss. These, together with soil and turf, were used in traditional charcoal making to exclude oxygen from the combustion inside the mound and thus prevent the wood igniting.

Day 10 & 11 - Build Up (Planting)

2009-07-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

The rest of the plants have arrived and so its time to set these out and get them planted. Our groundcover planting consists of native woodland species and a few common plants that are often thought of as weeds. Nettles, brambles and other 'weeds' have been included because while they may not be our favourite garden plants they do have a role to play in maintaining a sustainable balance of native flora and fauna. Its the woodlanders though that are the stars of the show, beautiful and less common perennials such as sweet woodruff, betony and red campion.

Day 9 - Build Up (Can you guess what it is yet?)

2009-07-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

Matt makes a start on the final structure. Remembering that the garden is a bit of theatre and in the interests of sustainabalility (naturally) it seemed a bit over the top to actually build a traditional charcoal burner. So after some conferring and a bit of head scratching an ingenious method was devised, based on the construction methods of a summer pudding. In our case, rather than timber, the tasty filling comprises a nutritious mixture of straw and soil, wrapped up in a crispy membrane. Genius.

Build Up - Day 8 (Alison weaves her magic)

2009-07-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

Bit by bit the structure of the garden is coming together and on Monday it was the turn of our environmental artist to construct the woven hazel element of the 'wall'. Alison Walling usually works with willow but has turned her hand to hazel on this occasion, to wonderful effect as you will see. After a torrid 6 hour drive from Lincoln on Sunday it meant she had just one day to complete the structure, instead of the planned day and a half. However, with some help from a glamorous assistant (and a long day) she managed it.

Day 6 & 7 - Build Up (Laying the hedge)

2009-07-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

Day 6 was a bit of a rest day, with just some watering of the trees (and words of encouragement!). On Monday the pre-laid hedging plants arrived along with Clive Braddock, the expert hedge layer. After the tricky job of unloading these, Clive set about fixing the hedge in place with hazel stakes and binders. He managed to get 4 species into a relatively short space - hawthorn, alder, blackthorn and beech - and was able to get the top binders to follow the curve of the wall perfectly. For an added bonus the blackthorn has even managed some sloes which will be put to good use after the show no doubt....

Build Up - Day 5 (One week down, one wall up)

2009-06-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

By the end of today Andy had pretty much finished the wall. It looks fantastic and is already getting lots of comments from passers by. Now we just have to wait for him to leave and then we can take all the credit! Thanks Andy for a tremendous effort.

Build Up - Day 4 (A Load of Cock & Hen)

2009-06-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

Further progress made today on the wall which is beginning to look very nice. Andy starts dressing and laying the cock & hen coping and then just has to prove that the wall will at least last the Show. After setting lines for the final two stone pillars, it takes him a while to find Guy, who is clearly exhausted after watching Andy at work for three days.

Build Up - Day 3 (The rise and fall)

2009-06-24T12:51:00.000-07:00

By the end of Day 3 the wall is really taking shape, curving and undulating to plan. There is even a 'smoot' for any wildflife that can't be bothered to go around the wall!.

Build Up - Day 2

2009-06-24T12:45:00.000-07:00

The specimen trees are placed in their final positions straight away to give them plenty of time to settle in. Fingers crossed they do not seem to be showing any ill effects from their journey yesterday (yet!).

Andy Craig, our expert waller, sets to work on the dry stone wall.

Build Up - Day 1 (And so it begins...)

2009-06-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

Arrived at Hampton Court Palace for Day 1 of the Build Up to find we have been allocated a great sight - surrounded by tall trees and in sight of The Palace. Morning spent getting plot excavated and marking out the plan on the ground. By the late afternoon the Matt and Jeff arrive with the trees and stone after a long day on the road.

Leave no stone unturned

2009-06-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

Matt and Andy check the stone is fit for purpose!

Set in stone

2009-06-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

Dean Baker, of Hanbeck Natural Stone, Andy Craig, the Master dry stone waller, and co-designer Matt discuss details, and Andy builds a prototype wall to assess how the stone looks.

A stationary stone gathers moss!

2009-06-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

To give the garden an authentic look we were keen not to use freshly quarried stone for the wall. As luck would have it Hanbeck Natural Stone had just the thing - weathered stone from the rim of the quarry.

The Hedge

2009-05-20T00:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-19T01:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-19T00:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-17T02:53:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-15T03:52:00.000-07:00

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)

A good idea!

2009-03-18T16:24:00.000-07:00

It seemed like a good idea the time. An invitation from the RHS to exhibit in a new 'sustainability' category at the Hampton Court Flowershow and before we knew it a germ of an idea had developed into something more - a plan and a sketch to be precise. Sustainability is a many headed beast and we decided to approach it by trying to show how sustaining one thing can in turn sustain another, and perhaps even another and so on. Keeping alive traditional rural crafts such as hurdle-making protects livelihoods and a rich heritage and in turn ensures the future of sustainably managed resources, such as coppiced woodlands, which in turn provides an important habitat for many species of plants and animals.

It sounded simple enough but we soon realised that illustrating that idea in a temporary garden exhibit in July might not be so easy, particularly recreating a hazel coppice and a laid hedge. We decided that it was worth having a go anyway and over the next few weeks we will post photographs of the different elements of the garden coming together. For now though here are the plans and sketches:-