Highlights of my Chelsea (part 1)

Ah, how I wished I'd not started my previous post with "what a weekend" as yesterday was really quite a day.  It wasn't the quite so early start I'd been contemplating (but really that shouldn't be any surprise) but it was a day full of the Chelsea Flower Show and my best experience yet of the show.  I'd applied for and been granted press accreditation for the show, and so off I went on Press Day, and the whole day had a friendly mix of formal and informality about it, and it worked rather well.

There was plenty of time and space to take pictures, photographers were courteous and the celebs and well known faces were also gracious. I unexpectedly caught up with some of the organisers and attendees of my Stihl press trip to Austria and it was great to see them. I had a chat with Elaine Paige on the corner of the Yorkshire garden, bumped into James Martin a couple of times, had a giggle with Su Pollard as she took charge of a photo and as you'll see towards the end of this post heard more than one voice I recognised, and of course saw some wonderful gardens and planting, and in the sun too.

I took way too many photos, we're talking hundreds here, walked over eleven kilometres which adds up to nearly seventeen thousand steps.  And with such a step count, I felt it was ok to get the bus back from the station.  Given I have so many photos to go through, I've split my highlights post into two, today I'll share my highlights from the gardens and will follow up with a highlights from the Great Pavilion, so let's get going shall we?

Artisan gardens

There are seven artisan gardens, but I only managed to see five on my visit - I could go back on Wednesday, but as I'm double booked it may not happen - if I do then I'll head along and find the remaining two.  I made a beeline for these as soon as I arrived as before when I've been they've been rammed, and you end up shuffling along the Serpentine Walk, which is never pleasant, so I planned to avoid that by heading there first.

It seems though Press Day was a little bit more relaxed, which if you think about it makes sense.  The first garden, the Viking Cruises Wellness garden includes a Nordic spa - a sauna, and a plunge pool and definitely had the feel of tranquility about it.  And it was here that I started to suspect things might be a little different today.  It was when Anneka Rice posed almost in front of me with two dogs, and all dutifully looked at everyone in the crowd.

TRANQUIL PLANTING IN THE VIKING CRUISES IN THE GOLD MEDAL WINNING WELLNESS GARDEN

Moving along to the next artisan garden I got another feel for how the day might go, and while I did bump into Nick Knowles continually for the rest of the day, that wasn't it. Instead I'm talking about the film crew and interviews, neither were pushy but they were there to do a job.  When I got home yesterday this Nick Knowles interview was one of the ones covered in the afternoon show.

NICK KNOWLES INTERVIEWING IN THE LACED WITH HOPE SILVER MEDAL GARDEN

Space to Grow gardens

There were eight of these gardens with the overall theme of health and wellbeing which are aimed at improving our own wellbeing "as well as displaying solutions to some of the environmental issues facing us today" - which will become clearer the more posts I share.  The Space to Grow gardens were a new category at this year's show and it'll be interesting to see if this category remains in future years - I hope so, I'm all about the gardens.

THE TEXTURAL BLOCKS IN THE SILVER-GILT MEDAL SPACE TO GROW SKIN DEEP GARDEN

The concrete blocks are certainly eye catching, especially with the traditional buildings and lovely blue sky behind them.  They represent people with varying skin conditions and is a "window into our genetic past" which all sounds very deep, until you realise it's a garden created for an established UK skincare company.

I liked the texture and fun they brought to the garden, and while it might not be something that could be replicated in domestic gardens on this scale, adding a concrete block or two and mixing the sizes is totally something that could be borrowed.

The concept of the Seedlip garden was easier for me to grasp, and that's to show how edibles can be grown beautifully at home.  If my edibles every looked anywhere near as pretty as this, then I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be on the allotment route we currently are, but that's a whole other story.

YELLOW LUPINS AND GREEN PEAS IN THE APPROPRIATELY GOLD MEDAL SEEDLIP GARDEN

The Chelsea gardens have an attention to detail that I'm unlikely to achieve in my own garden, in the Seedlip garden that was the pea motif used throughout the garden, and even split peas used in some of the paths and paving - I'll share more on this though another day.

I've included the sculpture from the Myeloma UK garden as it was so striking. It's heavy too, made of perspex it weighs 7.5 tonnes and that's not all the combined weight of the boulders in this garden weighs eighteen tonnes, so it's far from a lightweight garden. The sculpture was built by the team that constructed the London 2012 cauldron, so they've got form but on this occasion took home a medal colour not available in the Olympics, Silver-Gilt.

THE SCULPTURE IN THE MYELOMA UK SILVER GILT SPACE TO GROW GARDEN

The Urban Flow garden was one of my favourites, I am rather partial to a bit of Corten Steel, which there was plenty of at this Chelsea.  This installation shows its versatility as a material, it's a strong material that with the cut out detail can also look more delicate.  The judges, it seems, also approved of the garden which is designed with water conservation in mind and awarded it as the Best Space to Grow garden.

LACE PATTERNED CORTEN STEEL IN THE GOLD MEDAL URBAN FLOW GARDEN

Show gardens

I told you there was a fair bit of Corten Steel at the show didn't I?  This next garden is as it says on the RHS website "garden theatre" and shows how sculptures and planting can work so well together.  This was one of my favourite gardens so it was disappointing to learn that the judges awarded it only a Bronze, but of course we don't know exactly what they were judging it on.  But in all honesty, it won't spoil my enjoyment of it, nor will I'm sure spoil others' views either.

STEEL STRUCTURES IN THE BRONZE MEDAL DAVID HARBER & SAVILLS GARDEN

The M&G garden is a garden of contrasts, how the plants play against the terracotta toned walls which are made of rammed earth and for me the beauty was those contrasts, and with yellow, lime green and pink plants it was always going to be popular with me.

VIBRANT PLANTING IN THE GOLD MEDAL WINNING M&G GARDEN

SET AGAINST THE DUSKY PINK TERRACOTTA STRUCTURES

The Morgan Stanley Garden for the NSPCC designed by Chris Beardshaw won the Best Show garden and now I know, it's easy to see why - it really was a delight.  The garden's design "is a metaphor for the emotional transition that takes place in a child as they experience the positive impact of the NSPCC’s work. At the start of the garden the direction of the path in the woodland is unclear. As it turns a corner it leads to a more open and tranquil space, filled with soft, textured perennials. The path steps up onto a bespoke cedar wood pavilion, enclosed, at the rear, by a calm, reflective canal".

It was a delight to see, and calming.
 

PLANTING AROUND THE WOODEN PAVILION IN THE GOLD MEDAL AND BEST IN SHOW MORGAN STANLEY FOR NSPCC GARDEN

In total contrast the Trailfinders South African Wine Estate garden was great fun, densely planted, but fun.  It uses plenty of plants that are native to South Africa that we regularly use in our own gardens - the red hot pokers, the agapanthus - yes, those garden staples come from South Africa.

RED HOT POKERS IN THE SILVER-GILT TRAILFINDERS SOUTH AFRICAN WINE ESTATE GARDEN

BLACKENED REMAINS OF OLDER PLANTATION

THE HOMESTEAD SECTION IN THE TRAILFINDERS SOUTH AFRICAN WINE ESTATE GARDEN

For me the LG Eco-City was a contender for my favourite garden - I may well have been swayed by the colour of the planting, but it's also a garden I would love to own, and I don't think you can ask for a better testimony than that, can you?  But perhaps it's practicalness wasn't quite for the judges as it was awarded Silver-Gilt.

A VIEW OVER THE SUNKEN SEATING AREA IN THE LG ECO-CITY GARDEN WHICH WAS AWARDED SILVER-GILT

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE PLANTING

ADMIRING THE SCULPTURE IN THE LG ECO-CITY GARDEN

The shot above with the sculpture and moss bubbles was an element I loved.  Moss, because of its eco properties, it's great for combatting air pollution and obviously doesn't need mowing.  The sculpture because it's beautiful, but also because it reminded me of the giant hare I saw at Chatsworth back in 2014.  Looking back at that sculpture, it's easy to see why it jogged my memory isn't it?

Remember at the start of this post I said I heard many familiar voices, well I did, and on hearing yet another familiar voice I turned around to see Monty Don behind me, and I'm not embarrassed to admit I had a bit of a fan girl moment.  

I HEARD A FAMILIAR VOICE BEHIND ME AND TURNED TO SEE MONTY

So there's part one, you can see why I'm splitting my highlights into two - it's been quite a jaunt around the show hasn't it?  I'll also share more from around the show, and from each of the gardens, but my next task is editing the photos from the Great Pavilion - wish me luck, and if you're going to the show, then have a great day and let me know which garden - or gardens - caught your eye.

Circles and slate

Yes, another post on my grass circles, but there's good news as we're reaching the end of this project. All, but the final piece of edging is down and our grass is looking less like we've put one of those expandable cake tins around it.  And if you're wondering why we haven't put the last piece of edging down, it's not because we have some weird kind of topping out ceremony planned, but all to do with the fact that the edge was covered with one of those huge tonne bags and full of slate.

So with as much edging down as we could manage, it was time to tackle the membrane and redistributing the aforementioned slate. But where to start?

We decided to tackle one of the larger areas at the back of our garden first so we could practice our techniques and so we didn't botch the most visible part of our garden, the bit that is right in front of the patio.

Looking at what was outside the edging more closely we were once again reminded that our house was built on an old gravel pit, to say we have stony soil is an understatement, I mean just look.

We could have picked out the stones, and in fact could quite easily go into business selling them for a good while, but instead out came the big hammer and some serious arm work got underway - the results are pretty impressive aren't they?

So out came the rolls of membrane. It was much thinner than I'd expected, but it was just like rolling out material and kind of weird. We quickly learnt that the longer the piece of membrane the more effective it's likely to be, and that it's best to secure it first and then cut the shape, leaving plenty of overhang.

Pleased with our progress and learning quickly we shifted our attention to the patio area.

And the results were pretty impressive, and quick - which is definitely my kind of project!

It was clear though that despite having one very large bag delivered (which we'd split into two when we decanted it through the house back in 2013 - how time flies hey?!) it wasn't going to be enough to do the whole garden. When we ordered it we weren't sure, but as the circles were only a glimmer in our eye at that time, we weren't too fussed. We ordered it along with the new patio and therefore saved on delivery fees, I don't think though that either of us thought it would sit in our garden for the next four years!

So tactical decision made, we decided to lay the slate by the patio and then all the way up the left-hand side of the garden up to the greenhouse, and then to complete the area in front of the shed, which I'll show you in a moment. 

But first, I'm enjoying a couple of more arty-farty slate pictures.

And look, the yucca is no longer lolling over the grass, it's staked up - but more on that tomorrow.

And so in one afternoon and evening session we'd laid slate right up to the greenhouse, it makes such a difference, don't you think?

And then we had to tackle the area outside the shed. This has been one of the problem areas in our garden, along with the area in front of the lilac (on the right of the picture). It's not obvious from the photo but there's a distinct change in level from the grass to the paving, and just where our pile of leaf composting black sacks are, there's quite a dip.

So in an attempt to avoid the rest of our free time picking up slate from the path and putting it back where it should be, we installed a piece of the edging as a retaining boundary. Then the membrane, and finally the slate.

And fingers-crossed this will sort one of our problem areas once and for all. I've got a post coming up soon on how we plan to fix the problem area by the lilac too, it's more work (obviously) but I'm quite excited about our plans and how they've come about.

So we need to buy some more slate, I think we can easily use the same amount again, especially as I think we'll need a fair bit by the stone circle and pizza oven area, and I'm resigned to many more trips carrying slate through the house, but at least this time we'll be able to decant them to their final position (she says hopefully!)  - although I suspect this job won't reach the top of our list for a month or two.

So circles and slate - we're almost there - and it was well worth the bravery it took to make those cuts in our lawn last summer.  What do you think?

More than 'just' a lawnmower

Last week I said I'd share more about my trip to the Viking factory in Kufstein as part of the Stihl and Viking press trip, and I've started to write this post in my head many times. It's a post I want to reflect the warmth and hospitality we enjoyed, but also where I hope I can share some of the passion that was so apparent from the Viking workers.  

And I also want to explain why now I think Viking lawnmowers are more than just a lawnmower. But let's start at the beginning, or with cake anyway. This was part of our packed lunch as we travelled from Munich to the factory in Kufstein.

CAKE IS ALWAYS A GOOD PLACE TO START

Arriving at the factory, and having got over the amount of snow I started to marvel at the icicles. And once I'd snapped this one I joined the rest of the group and admired the amount of snow, the blue skies and the view. Not a bad view, hey? It was only later during the factory tour that we saw this mountain view is the one the workers on the production lines have.

ICICLES ABOVE THE DOOR

JUST A BIT OF SNOW SURROUNDING THE CAR PARK

HOW ANY WORK GETS DONE WITH THIS VIEW IS BEYOND ME

Viking are actually a relatively young company, founded in 1981 in Kufstein, with twenty people. Since then they've joined the Stihl group and moved into a new factory, which with tremendous foresight, is a space that has allowed them to expand their operations and double their floorspace, creating the Competence Centre where they do everything from the ideas, the design, the testing and build the machines.  And they still have enough land to double the size of their factory again, now that's forethought. 

I've not been on many (any) factory tours but I was struck by just how happy and proud all of the Viking employees were, from the production line to the research department, and yes it's not something you think about is it. Research into products, I mean. We learnt - and saw - just how this passion for their product has driven research to make the lawnmowers efficient, quiet and long lasting.

I'll come back to the noise levels, taking efficient as read, let's start with long lasting. Now I'm not technically minded, and apologies if you are - actually if you are you'll probably be interested in this review by Jay at Gadgety News who was also on the trip - but what I learnt about the elastic properties of metal in a short presentation was fascinating.

I'll attempt to put that briefly into non-technical speak.  

Lawnmowers have blades, those blades are made of metal. The blade is attached to the crankshaft, which (very) basically attaches the blade to the lawnmower.  If you try to bend one of those blades, you'll struggle because they're hard and unbendable. The blades rotate and cut the grass, simple. Now this might not be something you'd ever thought of (and I'm with you there), but when your lawnmower hits a stone, or something else hard, what happens is something has to give, and because the blade is hard, traditionally it's the crankshaft which does. And that's not good, because it's expensive. Expensive to fix and expensive to replace.

With me so far?

So what the clever people at Viking have done is develop a blade that can in effect be sacrificed, instead of the expensive crankshaft. The research that's gone into this is astounding. And it makes sense doesn't it, sacrifice a cheaper part that is easier to replace rather than a key and expensive part. 

Now this was the bit that was really fascinating. What they've done is make use of the elastic properties of the metal, yes that hard metal blade that's unbendable. When it rotates at speed its properties change and I saw it with my own eyes gracefully flapping like a bird. The movement is relatively small, but there is movement and that means when the lawnmower hits something hard, the blade is able to absorb the impact and the more expensive crankshaft is protected.

And that's what struck me about Viking, they want to deliver the best product they can to their customers. They don't want us throwing away their lawnmowers with a broken crankshaft, and replacing them with another model or worse still make, they'd much rather us buy their products and replace the blades as we need to. It's the kind of thing that really plays to my sustainability ethos, and yours too I'm sure. 

Just like the compact range - remember I shared unboxing the Stihl Compact Trimmer recently, and yes I'm still waiting for my grass to grow - with their interchangeable batteries. It just makes sense.  Actually while we're talking about the compact range, in the Viking showroom I saw there is also a compact lawnmower which uses the same size battery.

As I said it just makes a lot of sense.

But anyway, back to the noise levels.

Now I shouldn't have been surprised at the extent Viking go to to ensure the noise levels of their lawnmowers are low. But I was. In the Competence Centre, we were treated with a visit to Europe's largest anechoic chamber. And until I stepped through the door, I had no idea what it was or what I'd experience. 

But it was amazing.

It's basically a room where the echo is removed. From your steps, from your voice, from clapping your hands, from everything. It's the opposite of an echo chamber and is designed to absorb reflections of sound or electromagnetic waves. A totally surreal experience, and one that MOH who's into his hifi was slightly envious of when I told him. 

So you'll be able to tell if your neighbours have a Viking mower, as you won't be able to hear it and it won't disturb your gin and tonic in the garden, as they start to cut their grass. I don't know about you, but that always happens to us. We've finished our gardening, and want to enjoy the efforts of our hard work, we just get settled and then the neighbours fire up their lawnmower, which is clearly, by the noise levels alone, not a Viking!

A happy workforce

I've mentioned this before, but it was so noticeable. I'll admit I don't have a UK production line comparison, but I've a hunch that it won't compare. The Viking products are on the whole assembled by hand, they have machinery to check parts of the process, of course they do, but there's also a lot of human interaction. As we toured the factory floor and the offices, the Viking employees couldn't help but show their pride and enthusiasm for their company, and the part they played in it.

As a communicator in my day job, that was a pleasure to see, and when I correctly guessed that passion was one of their company values, the management team couldn't have been more proud this had been spotted based on their employees behaviours. And if I'm honest, if I were them, I'd have been proud too.

Can you spot what's different here?

I'll admit it's not the greatest picture, but the one below should give you more of a clue.

Yes, it's the new mono handle. 

At first, I thought it looked odd and not lawn mower-like at all, but having seen the research that Viking put into their products I was sure there'd be a reason for this. And in fact there's three:

1. It gives easier access to the grass box, which means it's easier to empty too.

2. It has a different folding system to most mowers, which means it has a smaller footprint for storage (you can see this in the photo above)

3. It's height adjustable.

So knowing all of that, it does makes sense, and the design grows on you, and it's something I think we'll see more of. I tell you, these Viking people are clever.

I've so much more to tell you about my visit to the Viking factory, including the future of smart gardening and the Viking iMow and our evening at the Fortress at Kufstein, but I'm saving that for another day.

This post is long enough already and stuffed full of information I never thought I'd write about before this trip, let alone be fascinated by. I hope I was able to share some of the passion and pride that was so evident throughout my visit, and I'm sure you're starting to realise why I think these are more than 'just' a lawnmower.

UPDATE: Since I've been back there's been some Stihl and Viking news. From 2019 the Stihl group will manufacture the entire product line of Viking exclusively under the Stihl brand name, so in effect Viking's green will change to Stihl orange. This picks up on lots of the points we made during the trip while talking with Viking's top management about leveraging the popularity and prestige of the Stihl brand name.  

There's good news for us too, as there's growth potential for the Stihl dealer network in the UK and it's also likely that jobs at Viking's plant will be boosted as well. And after having met so many of them, I'm really pleased about that.

* This is a collaborative post with Stihl and Viking whose factory I visited as part of the UK press trip, but as always all views and opinions are my own.