BBC | RHS Summer Flower Shows /> A real highlight for me has been the introduction of the Fruit and Vegetable section, which inspired a great deal of interest among adults and children alike. I hope this section returns and extends next year!

By the way, this is where you could often find me this week, writing my blog in the shelter for rain or sunshine in the Tatton Tent!'

So as 4pm and the great sell off approaches, it's 'hold on to your plants', watch out for walking hanging baskets and here we go for next year!

The hermits are getting poetic

Sam Youd — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:53:38 +0000

On second thoughts - almost forgot we had the rest of the week to go! (by the way I am writing this from the Tatton tent which is at present being deluged by the tail end of a passing storm - however, we are close to a flower bed containing Noah's Ark so there is an escape route!).

The garden has been a great success with the public. It's also been enhanced this week by the presence of the Cheshire Poet Laureate, W. Terry Fox, reading landscape inspired poetry: his own, some from local school Manor Park Primary in Knutsford and even poems from would-be bards among Tatton staff!

Mingling in and out of the crowds all week have been many gardening celebrities, including two 'bits of lads' I knew when they were students: namely Joe Swift and Toby Buckland. It was good to catch up on old times - though they reckon they are not so old.

Finally we met up with Gilly, chief blogger for this event!

So all it remains is to dismantle everything early next week, put everything in store and continue to plan for next year. See you then!

We won gold!

Sam Youd — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:26:40 +0000

After a few nervous moments yesterday when I almost missed meeting up with the judges I can now reveal (with much excitement) that we won a gold medal for our display. I'm really pleased for everyone involved; all the hard work has finally paid off.

Of course now that the medal's been awarded there's no stopping me; I've already got a great idea for next year!

Show time!

Sam Youd — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:51:23 +0000

There's no turning back now the garden is finished and despite the torrential downpours and the blustery weather it is looking good!

We had a 'near miss' Saturday when one of my staff lost his footing on the top of the cave and nearly disappeared -just managing to save himself at the last moment.

Last minute tasks are in hand: putting in the posts to hold the rope to prevent marauding crowds from surging forward and destroying the garden; final positioning of the skull and bones; briefing of the staff on the plants, plan and the final tweak on the garden itself.

The judges' scouts have already been about. They are the ones who try to ascertain what medal an exhibitor deserves and also to warn what 'horrors' or otherwise they may face at the next exhibit.

I nearly missed meeting up with them as they were earlier than their allotted time and I was busy helping someone across the other avenue.

However it all worked out in the end and I think I may get a 'highly commended'. Watch this space!

On the rocks...

Sam Youd — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:58:59 +0000

This week we interviewed the candidates from the hermit shortlist - there were two! We invited them to Tatton to see how at home they would be living in a cave, with a skull to contemplate and very little else. They were so good, we have decided to let them do half a day each on press day.

On the garden itself, the work goes on apace. We have now stabilised the rock walls and have started planting. We are using three tree ferns, so hopefully the weather will be kind and not destroy them by 'the day of judgement' - all will be revealed.

We also managed this week to smuggle in our gnome to the site ('banned' under RHS rules). However, he did have his reflective jacket and safety boots on. He continues to remain elusive due to not having a 'gnome pass'. Look out for him when you visit the show as he is apt to hide amongst the vegetation until close of play on the Sunday of the show.

The guy across the way has offered a replacement for the gnome and the hermit and has a full size dragon he says he can lend me. Quite honestly, I think he is just trying to palm his mother in law off on us for the duration of the show - I'll keep you posted!

Keeping your cool

Sam Youd — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:06:27 +0000

Things are starting to 'warm up' as the build up for your garden approaches. We have selected our plants (tender ferns from New Zealand to Japan) and are trying to make sure they neither get too cold nor too hot in this unpredictable weather.

We have had a good response to a request for a potential hermit for our grotto, and I look forward to interviewing potential candidates.

We've finally managed to deliver a lot of rock and old wood to the show site and to fence it off so as not to have the site damaged by vehicles; this was after I was refused entry the first time for not wearing my safety boots!

Our neighbours were shocked when we told them we were constructing a garden with a wild theme - and that the heap of rock and wood we had just tipped was in fact our garden. That should give them something to talk and think about over weekend until we arrive on Monday morning to put it all together! (Our neighbour's some bloke called Beardshaw - he was next to us last year also, obviously a glutton for punishment)

Everywhere else on site everyone seems quite laid back and relaxed. I'm sure that will be about to change next week when the site starts to get snarled up with delivery vehicles - by which time we will be working away happily under our gazebo to shade us from the summer sun (we hope!?) Here are a few old pro's tips for surviving the build-up:

• Don't get dehydrated - like plants we need plenty of water!
• Hats are not necessarily the best protection - the sun bounces off the trackway, onto the brim of your hat and right into your face
• Keep plenty of sun cream to hand ...
• And keep a sense of humour.. It's supposed to be fun after all!

Situation vacant

Sam Youd — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:52:28 +0000

'Complete silence, a ban on bathing and an appreciation of solitude are all part of the job description for a position that's has become available at Tatton Park after remaining vacant for the last 150 years'. No this is not an advertisement for a new Gardens Manager, but a press release sent out last week to appeal for a 'hermit' to take up residence in our show garden: 'Hermit's Grotto: Inspiration for Imagination'

But no response so far. John Harris, a celebrated Cheshire hermit, was not quite so reticent and needed no encouragement to become a cave dweller. Heartbroken after his family forbad him from marrying an Anne Egerton, he went to live as a hermit in a cave near Chester until he was 'discovered' at the ripe old age of 99 years! I'll keep you posted as to our recruitment drive ...

Our garden has certainly been inspiring imagination already - in particular, among a group of much younger people from Manor Park Primary School in Knutsford, who have written some hermit poetry. The 'winning' entries will be recited by the Cheshire Poet Laureate, Terry W. Fox on the Thursday and Friday of the show from the hermit's grotto. Be sure to be there!

By the time we've finished the garden our team will probably look like hermits too: unshaven and unwashed for the week and a half of the build-up. We've finished forming our cave and we're just in the process of sorting out the rock to face it with. We are using tufa stone which cuts your hands like a million razors. It also has a strange colour and looks great, really grotesque. At the moment we're also searching for old tree roots to provide the correct environment for a hermit habitat. I hope the judges like it!

Our neighbours at the show will be Chris Beardshaw and his team who are building a garden which will represent a 'plant cell'. Sounds far too biological for me and painful. I can't decide if I've got a problem with my xylem or my phloem and my medullary rays feel stretched to the limit.

The storm before the calm

Sam Youd — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:23:07 +0000

The deer are lying peacefully in the sunshine and the sheep slumber in the shade of the great Beech Avenue.

But not for long ... this delightful pastoral scene will soon be shattered by the first signs of the 11th Royal Horticultural Society's Show at Tatton Park - the roar of the great articulated vehicles delivering tracking for the show site. We call it the storm before the calm!

For me it's a part of the month-long experience which can only be described as being 'imprisoned in paradise'. The fact that I only have to walk out of my front door to the show site in less than ten minutes is an added bonus.

I look forward to meeting many of my old friends (getting older by the year) as well as making some new ones.

Before that though, it is back to the hard work of the build up. Show preparation for all involved in the Tatton Show starts around the previous October, when we have to decide what we are going to do. Then there is the inevitable tome of paperwork to be filled in, including the all important Health and Safety risk assessments to comply with all the required legislation. Finally, the client's brief, a document intended to inform the judges why and how you decided to build such a garden, with such a theme. After the plan has been drawn up, you can start to plan how you will make all of the paperwork a reality.

So I have started to build some of the superstructure and selected some of the plants, which will hopefully interpret the theme of our garden, which is .....The Hermit's Garden - Inspiration for Imagination .

Where did that idea spring from? Read on next week