LIFE has suddenly got very, very busy indeed. In the last week, the hard landscaping for the garden has been finished.

The stone circle has been beautifully pointed and edging for the gravel trails affixed. It is now down to me to arrange all the planting and put it into place.

Only then will the curved stone bench be delivered, the sails for the windbreak unfurled and the gravel added to the paths. All this will be happening on Tuesday, so that I have a lot to do in 48 hours!

I tried to buy all the plants in advance, but it’s so difficult to do. You can pre-order the structural things, but you can never be really sure what colour will be available. Plants have their own schedule and we can sometimes only watch and despair.

My irises from Howard’s Nurseries arrived safely, but only the little dwarf iris ‘Pogo’ is in bloom as yet. We still need some warm days to bring out the others in time to delight the judges and the Show visitors.

Meanwhile, along with many other designers, I have been running around from nursery to garden centre to fill in the gaps in my planting.

But it’s a very good atmosphere on the showground. Everyone is very helpful and encouraging. Even though we are competing against one another, we are all battling the same common enemies: time, fatigue and the almost constant blustery wind which continually sweeps across the showground, knocking about all plants and designers in its path.

I did take some time off on Friday evening to go to Club Dance UK’s ladies night and handyman auction to raise money for St Richard’s Hospice. It was great fun, and I even learnt a burlesque dance routine. As the theme of the garden is dance, Dawn-Marie from the club will be doing a little belly dancing in the garden on Friday and Saturday afternoons, so don’t miss that!

This will be my last post before the show as the pace will really be hotting up this week. However, I would love to hear your reactions to this blog and to my garden, so I do hope you will come and talk to me at the show. I will be more or less permanently affixed to the garden from Thursday to Sunday. Alternatively, you can email me at helen@elgindesign.co.uk and check out my new website: www.elgindesign.co.uk. Wish me luck!