It wasnt that long ago that we were getting stressed about ships not making it in time with valuable stone for the garden. In the end, it arrived about 3 days before we started on site. And it wasn’t so long ago that we were wandering around a woodland in Herefordshire choosing the oak trees that would be turned into this magnificent loggia. But all that effort was worth it. The vening light brought the garden to life last night – let’s see what the judges think.

It seems a long time ago that we started on this adventure but it is now all over. The assessors have been round and the formal judging starts this morning. But Ulf’s garden is wonderful: stylish, contemporary, sophisticated.

The gardens are nearly over so here are photos of some of the people involved with the construction. The papers tend to focus on the designers but in reality none of it could happen without the entire team.

The Laurent-Perrier team will in a good mood today. The last of the hard landscaping took place and a big chunk of the garden is planted. Not long to go now.

The Daily Telegraph garden is getting close. There’s till quite a lot to do but the finisheing line is visible, if still only in the distance. The combination of shapes and form are remarkable. Let’s see what the judges say…

It has taken us a few days more than we expected but Ulf’s garden is really taking shape with the hard landscaping nearly finished and the planting started. We lost a couple of days at the beginning due to problems with the hedging but now we are really motoring.

In the spirit of friendly competitiveness, I went along to Jinny Blom’s garden this morning. Jinny has been on the front page of most glossy magazines because of Prince Harry’s support for her Sentebale garden. When I told her that she should spend more time planting and less time talking to her media friends, she decided to show her warm regard for my opinion. Luckily Charlotte Harris thought it was funny!

Christopher Bradley-Hole’s design for the Daily Telegraph calls for precision engineering. All the plants and the joinery need to line up. It’s fine on a drawing but extremely difficult to achieve in the flesh, especially as no two plants are the same. The last of the large yew blocks were planted today and the herbaceous planting has started. Only four days to go…

They may have lost their empire in the early 18th Century and they may have stopped making rather ugly cars (sorry Volvo owners) but I have to admit that the Swedes are workers. They get stuck in. Even Ulf was on the wheelbarrows today. Leif nevers stops and is constantly working, carrying, cleaning, levelling etc – all very impressive. I was quietly rather pleased when I heard that Tobias was approached ina restaurant, wearing a Crocus high-viz, and asked if he was Mark Fane – very flattering given that Tobias is at least 15 years younger and several stone lighter!

Many many years ago, when I first started at Chelsea, there was a very intimidating President of the RHS called Lord Aberconway. He presided over an institution that was ran in exactly the way he wanted it – which is fine, I suppose. However, he would not be amused by the RHS’s decision to allow in gnomes this year. Mark Whyman’s wife, Michelle, who is a skilled cook, decided to get in the spirit of the event and baked us all gnome cakes. Very impressive and very tasty.