Is it because you can’t buy plants at the Chelsea Flower Show that the urge to shop is so irresistible to most people?

Seasoned colleagues tell me they deplore the commercialism of it all, while I keep my guilty secret that I always look forward to shopping at Chelsea.  Each year I make a point of buying  something of very good quality which I would normally consider too much of an extravagance. Last year I treated myself to the Emma Bridgewater set of flower mugs made for the National Garden Scheme (NGS) and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them all year.

This time I fell for an antique Haws copper watering can for seedlings and houseplants, from Garden Brocante on Eastern Avenue (and yes I did actually need it).  Husband and wife team, Peter and Zoe, sell antique garden tools and equipment at unbelievable prices (spades and forks with satisfying, wooden ‘D’ handles are about £16- £24). My watering can was only £20. “The prices reflect that I can’t be bothered to persuade people to buy something,” jokes Zoe. “Everything is priced to go.”

I also succumbed to two sets of Wills cigarette cards (they used to be given out with ‘Woodbines’ and other brands in the Wills stable).  Each set contains 50 lovingly kept cards, which illustrate practical gardening techniques like propagating dahlias, sowing peas and taking runners from strawberries. The back of the cards have advice on them.
At a cost of £15 each set, I feel privileged to own a small slice of horticultural history.  Garden Brocante are given much more space at the Hampton Court Flower Show in July, so they have many more irresistible large items.

If you love tools, Felco secateurs are a good place to visit at the show on Eastern Avenue.  You can take your old secateurs to be refurbished for £14.50.  The company cleans, oils and replaces blades as necessary.  If the handles need re-dipping they will send them away for you for a small extra charge.

Other goodies I spotted this year are a new portable BBQ by Town and Country for £10.  They come in lime green, purple and blue and are useful in small gardens.

The Carrier Company is selling gorgeous fine wool, herringbone waistcoats for £94, which would suit men or women.  Whereas tweed is often rather stiff, this soft fabric has an instant lived-in Mellors appeal.

We’ll forget the outdoor Jamie Oliver Wood Fired Oven which was unveiled on Mark Gregory’s ‘Children Society Garden’. Who wouldn’t want one? But, at £2,000 – £5,000 I don’t think our local Italian restaurant will be facing any serious competition.

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They say that behind every successful man there is a woman.

And behind every successful Chelsea Show Garden there is a shed.  Some contain exotic items like rose-water and lime leaves, others are cluttered with boxes of disposable plastic shoe covers. (Chelsea judges don’t take kindly to messy footprints).

While the public sees only cool, calm, sophistication on Main Avenue, behind the scenes there is a makeshift world of shanty living.  At the Chelsea Flower Show, the shed becomes a home-from-home for the garden designer – a womb-like structure to retreat to, where copious cups of tea are made.

By the time Medals Day has come on Tuesday morning, many designers are suffering from exhaustion.  Uneaten sandwiches give way to bottles of fizz: everyone knows they have to savour the moment and make the most of enjoying a garden that will soon be torn down.

We randomly photographed the sheds of 6 designers: James Wong/ Malaysian Tourism, Tom Hoblyn/ Foreign and Colonial Investments, Robert Myers/Cancer Research, Andy Sturgeon/ Daily Telegraph, Tom Stuart-Smith/Laurent Perrier and Roger Platts/ M&G.

Enter our Chelsea Flower Show Shed Competition for the chance to win a highly sought after, signed copy of ‘Shedworking: The Alternative Work Place Revolution’ by Alex Johnson of the world renown Shedworking blog. All you have to do is Match The Shed To The Chelsea Show Garden.

Picture Credit: Courtesy of Helen Fickling

Picture Credit: Courtesy of BBC Online

Those with 6 right answers will be placed in the prize draw. E-mail me here

Competition closes when Alan Titchmarsh rings the bell for the Chelsea sell-off at 4pm on Saturday. My grateful thanks to photographer Helen Fickling who dashed round to take the pictures and the designers who allowed us behind the scenes.

If you haven’t done so yet, there is still time to vote for ‘Shed of the Year’ over at Readers’ Sheds.

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Digitalis 'Serendipity' - Picture Credit: Julian Desborough

Today I’ve been turning my attention to plants at the Chelsea Flower Show:  first of all there are new plants, and then, there are plants that are new to me!  But with only 60ft to play with in London, I have to keep a tight rein on my enthusiasm.   Last year’s must-have was Anchusa Azulea Loddon Royalist which I spotted in Adam Frost’s  QVC garden.  The blue colour of the flowers is so striking, a perfect foil for crimson, red or orange flowers.  I ordered some this spring and it’s happily flowering in my garden now.

This year, Dibleys has a new streptocarpus ‘Harlequin Blue’, which has just been made ‘Plant of the Year’ by the Royal Horticultural Society.  I’m not usually attracted to bi-colour flowers, but the pale blue and cream mix work pleasingly in this new combination.  Streptocarpus are easy house plants to keep – they flower from spring into autumn, belting out flowers.  I prefer the richer, sumptuous variety called ‘Scarlet’ also introduced by the company this year.  It’s more compact than other red varieties so it sits well on a window sill. Read more…

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