The construction guys are getting excited - final changes have been made to the design now to reduce the amount of soil and mulch we have to bring on site to level it out. 100 cubic metres was just too much to shift in the short amount of time we have to dismantle it all when the show is over - just 3 days! So, I've given up on the idea of having steps up to our shed the whole way across the front, and now we have one 2.5m ramp only. It makes life much easier and we've saved ourselves some 70 cubic metres of fill. Phew!Anthony, our construction team manager, has asked for a copy of the plans for all his boys to put under their pillows. They need to be eating, dreaming and drinking MIFGS now.. (also known as Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show) Every Thursday we meet as a team at Swinburne - it's a growing buzz of excitement there that is evident immediately behind the door of the horticulture department, The enthusiasm is testament to the commitment these teachers have in giving their students the best education possible. They are revelling in soaking up every aspect of the design, plotting the daily construction tasks and thinking about how the students might slot into the grand plan. Anthony's boys will work with the Swinburne teachers and students, so now we have to bond the whole team together with some social interaction of the relaxation kind. War stories will be trotted out from MIFGS veterans, and eager MIFGS newcomers in our team will hungrily absorb every word. We develop our culture of mutual respect, professionalism, pride and a common goal during this bonding session - so important to a huge undertaking like this. Planning, planning and more planning.
Likely location of bonding session - all in the theme!
The timber for the frame of the shed arrives today, so by next week some of the floor modules will be taking shape. This 12 x 9 metre shed will be constructed in modules that will then bolt together on site. We've taken levels at the site and they will be replicated on a hill at Swinburne to give a real practise run on this construction. It's where we're expecting things will need adjusting if anywhere on site is going to need it. Constructing the shed beforehand also allows the main sponsors to see how the space will feel and look for their forums to be held during the show. We've still got some materials to track down in the next week: crushed granite toppings in an Ayer's Rock colour for one section of the garden. it needs to be a toasted orange / red colour and i have no idea where to find it. I've got to find time for a trip to the mudstone people - Transrock - who have kindly agreed to lend us some beautiful new mudstone to construct our drystone wall around the red toppings path. We're getting to the end of the materials sourcing list, but with 40 days to go we're cutting it fine!
In a mere 42 days 'imagine' will stand in 600 square metres of previously inocuous lawn in Carlton Gardens, Melbourne. MIFGS, as we fondly call our once a year flower and garden spectacular, is on again. This year I am lining up for a mammoth effort with a cast of thousands, truckloads of reclaimed tin, tortured eucalypt branches and thousands of gorgeous australian native plants woven into every corner of the design. This blog is the story of a dream as it unfolds in its final preparation phase, into the build phase and finally, the drama of the awards.... will it be good enough? 4 years of garden show experience has given me a healthy fear of disorganisation, a respect for risk management, a love of excel spreadsheets and a resourcefullness that allows me to sniff out a material with character from kilometres away. I like to tell a story with a show garden - I think a garden needs to connect to people who visit in a personal way, so I wanted to find materials to work with this year that celebrate Australia and our rural heritage. My fondness for wide open spaces and the simplicity of a childhood in the country was the seed for this collection of gardens inviting exploration from all. This year our garden is yours to wander through, pause in, learn in and take home. 'Imagine' is for everyone...So, where are we up to?
Meetings, meetings, meetings, meetings and more meetings. Spreadsheets follow a close second, and this week we may actually see some hammer and nail action with the beginnings of our massive 9 x 12 metre shed starting to be framed up. Swinburne University Wantirna campus in Melbourne are the generous and creative bods making all the pre-fabricated sections of the garden. This week the building students are poring over the engineer's drawings, trying to wrap their creative minds around the difficult structural requirements of the show. There are no holes, no pegs, no star pickets or concrete used to create this garden as we are committed to protecting the beautiful gardens that are heritage listed. So, the floor of this shed is like a miniature stud wall, braced and braced some more just in case we have the gale force mini hurricane that ripped through the site during last year's show. The old corrugated tin was the starting point for the shed - I just love the range of colours and find myself wondering how many winds strained metal on metal while it stood as a shed on the nursery property. It will be our fresco wall, a painting in itself of hard work, purposeful practicality and perhaps, hope. Our posts are fallen eucalypt trees patterned with lichen and insect trails, bending at just the right places to snuggle a beam or brace an angle. Everything needs to be aged to fit in; the floor a rhythmic patternation of discarded fence palings, the bar a mammoth redgum that fell and was lovingly split to just be. Precious parts of Australia come together to foil a carpet of greenery ready to take on climate change.... We begin a massive task in so many ways.
