Kate's Blog about Horticulture,Design and Travel around Europe: Chelsea Flower Show 2014

The Chelsea Flower show, something that I can now cross of my bucket list and say that I have helped to build one of the show gardens here is a massive achievement for me personally as it was always something that I had wanted to do since I started horticulture at the age of 16.

The opportunity wasn't exactly handed to me on a silver platter, though how it happened was a strange series of events. It started with asking every person I emailed, whether they knew someone who possibly could give me the chance to somehow help.

After about 8 different people it was Jack Sheilly from Young hort who sent me an email with an application form to apply to volunteer for the RHS while the show was on, I had one day to fill out the form and email it back to Annette Doulton and with a 2 week wait I got a unexpected phone call after dinner from the UK, I answered her questions the best I could and waited again for the response of whether or not I got the spot, and I did. I was absolutely thrilled and tweeted (for those wondering what I'm going on about, a tweet is on a social internet site, Twitter) to Jack to say a massive thank you for thinking of me and forwarding me the application form. Then walking along the beach with Mum, my puppy dogs Nelly, Marley and Zoe I got a very unexpected tweet from Andrew Fisher Tomlin- He asked if I would like to go the Australian flower and Garden show in Sydney this September and show them what I could do with a garden, after being impressed with my C/V. I was a little lost as I stopped to read this tweet over and over and rushed home to email him all my details and tweeted back with a very excited YES PLEASE! (With-out really thinking about what I was getting myself into).

After speaking more with Andrew I explain to him my situation and that I was going to be in London in time for the Chelsea flower show, it was after these emails that he then asked if I would like to come and help plant up during build week, as he knew a team that was looking for some more hands to help out. I remember this day very well- as I almost fainted flat on the floor.... I could not believe what was just offered to me!

So, in the space of two weeks and at the final stages of my planning I got two opportunities to volunteer at the Chelsea Flower show 2014. It is amazing how powerful social media can be.....

15/06//2014 I found myself walking through the entry gates with Andrew, a high vis vest, a build pass and a huge grin that I couldn't rub off my face. I was there!

I was firstly introduced to the designer Jo Thompson, a lovely lady who was not only designing the garden I was to help on, but another garden in the "Fresh" category of the show. We then walked into the Grand pavilion, "This will be where you are helping, Kate" Andrew said as we walked towards the site. The show garden was for a charity by the name of Perennial, a charity that has been operating for 175 years and this garden was to celebrate that and bring more awareness to them. Please click on the link to find out exactly what perennial does for people in horticulture. ahttp://perennial.org.uk/

I shook hands and said hello to everyone who was there and was placed under Gill Chamberlain's guidance. She is a very experienced horticulturist and a good friend of Jo's and was there to lend a hand. I was also introduced to Fiona, The project manager- a hard job keeping all the volunteers busy and working together, and the site would not have ran so smoothly without Fiona keeping it all together.

After being introduced to everyone on the team I soon came to realise that everyone was there because they had a passion for horticulture just like me. As I spoke more to people they shared their stories and where they came from. Another organisation that was there to help was Street-scape- an enterprise run to help people get apprenticeships in horticulture and landscaping. Here is a link to find out more about them. http://www.streetscape.org.uk/ Again, another great organisation to help people and bring awareness to the horticulture industry.

Everyone that I met on this project was happy, friendly and open to teaching me a few things.

Some of the tasks that I was set while there was helping to lay out the plants- here I was mainly taking in what was discussed between Jo, Gill and Katrina. I found it fascinating the way they treated every plant individually, and how they worked to get the colour, height, and texture combinations just right. It was here that I learnt the most. My job then was to help the other volunteers plant them into the soil that was spread out by street scape. After this process it was time to mulch- or I think it would be more appropriate to say do ballet and balancing acts in the garden being careful not to break or bend any flower heads.. tricky, and I must admit I was not totally successful but no major damage occurred in the spreading of the mulch.

I was very fortunate to get a wrist band for Sunday to help Gill to do the final touches to the garden- We spent time manicuring each plant, by wiping leaves to get stains off, pulling out any yellow leaves, ensuring that no pots were showing above the mulch. It took patience, though the end product must of been good to the judges as the show garden was awarded the next day with a Silver Gilt medal. I feel very privileged that I got to work with everyone involved, a very hard working and dedicated team. Thank you !

I met two other young volunteers that I would now call my friends, which also made the experience unforgettable. I first met Suzie, who was asked to come along to Chelsea to see how show gardens are put together, as she is going to be doing her first one at the Birmingham BBC Gardeners world live Flower show in June. She studied fashion design, though always had an interest in natural dyes, that led her to her concept for her border design at the show. Keep your eyes out for Suzie in other up-coming events. She is a fabulous soul.

Later in the week I met Kitty. I had followed her on twitter while in Australia, and she would often tweet rather interesting posts. When I was introduced to her, we got chatting as she helped me with mulching the Perennial show garden. She explained to me that she was there as one of Perennials volunteers and was going to be helping out while the show was on, by giving advice to people who came to look at the garden and raise awareness for the charity. She is one of those lovely people who is kind and friendly to everyone she meets, and has a huge network of friends throughout the industry that she was more than happy to introduce me to. I named her the networking queen !

There is one moment in my life that I will be forever thankful to Kitty for and that was the nudge of encouragement as she pushed me to go over and say hello to Graham Ross. A surreal moment. I got talking to him and explain who I was and how I came to be at Chelsea and two minutes later I was doing a radio interview with him. He was very delighted to hear that I was there and was open to helping me in the future.

A group of us decided to have a break and go for a walk to see how the other show gardens were coming along. To my surprise I was then saying hello and having my photo taken with Allan Titchmarch. One of my childhood inspirations to horticulture as I grew up watching him every night on my favourite show Ground Force. A true highlight of my Chelsea experience.

This same day and before I got back to do any more work I was being introduced by Andrew Fisher Tomlin to Rod Stoller. Rod is the event manager for the Sydney flower and Garden show. Andrew explained to him my situation and a opportunity to design a Balcony show garden was placed in my hands. I am feeling over whelmed by the chance though I am sure Mick, my family and friends will be able to pull it off in Early September 2014.

The build week had come to an end and all show gardens were looking wonderful by Sunday night. I was able to recoup on my one day off, and was back to volunteer for the Royal Horticulture Society (RHS) on the opening day.

I signed up to be a Chelsea appeal pin promoter- to walk around the show to get donations for RHS to help raise money for horticulture in Secondary Schools. I found this job rewarding. The next day I was on Information roaming where I spent my day explaining to visitors the way around the show. On my final day of volunteering I helped on the Plant of the year stand, my favourite day as I got to speak with visitors about new releases of plants all day- even though I had a bit of a head cold I loved it. I met Lesly from Wisley gardens who has offered to show me around when I get there.

All in all I have so many people to thank for my wonderful two weeks at Chelsea. I also would like to thank my wonderful partner Mick for being so patient and waiting for me to finish my time in London before we head off to explore the rest of the UK.

Cheers for taking the time to read this.

Kate.