Monday 4th
Whilst working on site today I have severely damaged the cruciate ligament in my right knee. Walking is almost impossible and I had to direct planting sitting on a chair. I spend the afternoon having acupuncture. Two years ago when working at Chelsea I tore the cruciate ligament in my other knee. It took eight months to heal, as I was unable to keep off it. I really hope that this one heals rather more quickly!

Tuesday 5th
4head meeting. The meeting went well, all the plant material has been ordered and checked and Phil has started to make the olive wood bench out of the material we had shipped from Italy. We have not yet tested the new web cam, which will show different images from the garden. It was agreed to try and get a test run of this done before the next meeting which will be our last before build commences. Bonnie and Nicky have run out of press packs and we need to reprint as we won't have enough for the show. The laser-cutting of the front page takes some time. We also decide to go ahead with the printing of 27,000 leaflets for distribution from the garden.

Thursday 7th
I visit Mattocks Roses to check on the material Robert Mattock has been growing for us. Philip had to drive because my knee is still extremely painful. We also had to collect the large pots, which were delivered to Mattocks from Pots and Pithoy earlier on in the year. These will go down to Chelsea in the van with us when we start build. We needed the large pot as the walls in the garden are going to be painted in the same colours as one of the large Cretan pots.

Monday 11th
II spoke to Kevin today. He's a little worried about the oleanders and bougainvilleas, as the buds on the oleanders are not developing and the bougainvilleas were caught in the last frost. I have asked for the oleanders to be moved into one of the tunnels at the plantation, as I know that the embryonic flower buds are stimulated into growth by temperature and length of day. I suspect we will have to buy some more bougainvilleas, as it is unlikely that the ones we have will produce sufficient growth in time for the show.

Tuesday 12th
Still with a streaming cold I have to do the voice-over for the BBC Digital production. This voice-over is superimposed over a film of the garden, which then goes onto the BBC Interactive Network and is screened during Chelsea week. My voice-over sounds very strange despite my best efforts with decongestants, etc!

Thursday 14th
Have managed to speak to Simon at Lillies' Water Gardens. Simon is growing all my bog plants for me. He reassures me that everything is running according to plan.

Friday 15th
4head have sponsored an herb garden at Maple School in St Albans. Still hobbling I arrive on site at 7.30 in the morning. Kings Landscapes, who carry out landscaping on my 'real' garden projects very kindly helped us to prepare the site. Using existing benches and a sundial we manage to produce a really pretty herb garden for the children. It was virtually complete by the time they arrived at 9.30. A good time was had by all.

Monday 18th
I suddenly realised that the technical brief for the garden has to be in today. I always leave writing the brief until the last minute as things do change as the garden develops. However, now is the hour. This is a very important document, as it is the brief against which you are judged.

Wednesday 20th
Still limping, I visit Mendlesham in Suffolk where they are growing the Pinks for my garden at Mill Farm Plants. They have developed a beautiful new pink which is cream with a claret coloured centre. This highly scented double pink is called Mendlesham Sweetheart and will be launched from the garden. It is quite topical as this year has been declared the Year of Pink.

Friday 22nd
Phil has finished making the olive wood bench. It looks absolutely fantastic and is perfect for the place at the back of the garden where I want to site it. I have ordered the cushions both for the chairs and for the bench and am very much looking forward to seeing them on site.

Monday 25th
We have a slight problem. Phil was hoping to start work on the ceramic tabletop but when we unpack the tiles, which have been couriered to us, we find that we only have the coloured tiles and none of the white ones. I contact the manufacturers only to find that they weren't sent because there aren't any in the country at present and there won't be any until the end of May! Phil and I go through the catalogue and find a slightly different shade, which will fit the bill. Unfortunately they are going to take several days to arrive. .

Tuesday 26th
I should have gone across to Bristol today to see Jekka, but although my knee is a lot better I didn't think that it would stand up to six hours in the car. I spend some time on the phone with Jekka, going through the various species she is growing for us. She seems very happy with the way things are coming together. Everything is either in bud or just starting to flower, which is spot on for what we want. I will need to speak to Jekka's husband, Mac, about the timing of delivery and which species we need first. We will be planting the wild areas of the garden, the olive terraces, before we plant the central area, so we will need all the wild material quite early, about the 11th of May, when Brooks will be arriving from America to help with the planting.

Wednesday 27th
I spoke to Robert Mattock today to check that the roses are still looking good. He assured me that there are no problems and that it will be fine to deliver my wild roses for the terraces on the 12th of May.

Thursday 28th
Colin has returned from Italy and has managed to purchase for me a really lovely tap for the little water feature at the back of the garden. This tap will play an important part in the opening of the garden. Ringo Starr has kindly agreed to do the honours as we are supporting his chosen charity, Wateraid, and we are hoping to promote their work through the literature we are producing for the garden.

This afternoon we finally got to test the new web cam. The picture quality is amazing and the features are wonderful. Last year we got 8,000 people per day watching the garden's construction, and we expect even more with the new camera.
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Friday 29th
Our final 4head meeting. The meeting went well, Steve took some champagne to celebrate being back to full health. Everyone is confident that their particular part of the organisation is running according to plan and I know from speaking to Kevin that he is itching to start work. He couldn't be with us today as he is loading the vans for Tuesday. I can't believe that another year has passed and off we go again. Watch us on the website!.

March 2004

May 2005