Attention to details...

The weather over Easter weekend was unseasonably brilliant here in the UK. Tim and I were at Devon for the earlier part of Easter and then made our way up to Malvern on Sunday. We reached Malvern showground around 1pm and with the afternoon sun casting its luminance on the bright white moon-gate, I was simply awe-strucked by my garden. I mean, I was not overtly happy with it as I thought it was very much smaller than what I had imagined. The sloping ground did not make things better. However, I was indeed very moved by the sight of my yet unfinished first show garden. There was a glimmer of pride in my eyes I suppose, but much need doing and there isn't time to just sit on my arse and enjoy the sun shine.

We spent a good few hours to ensure that all the wooden planters were well positioned and well levelled by using those leveller with a small bubble in it. The ground was very uneven, which was was it would have been a better idea to actually raise the floorplan with decking or concrete before constructing any of the hard landscaping. This was actually done on Rachel's show garden, which was being constructed by a large team of professional landscaper. Oh well, one lesson learnt.

After levelling all the planters, we then tackle the water feature and pond. The grey concrete edges around the rim of the pond was painted with special pond paint by Tim. This was recommended by Paul Taylor, who came by later on to give us further advices on how to better improve the finish of our hard landscaping. We had to clean all the surfaces of the slabs and to improve on the finish of the wall. Certain places on the wall show marks due to joining, as such, this should be sanded down and repainted...

Attention to details is what sets the professionals from amateurs. That's what I have always been told; but it is a habit of mine to pay too much emphasis on the big picture rather than the details. I must admit that a well finished product will naturally look and feel like a quality product.