Our aim is to start planting on Monday so we try very hard to get all the hard landscaping finished by Sunday night. So far, we are on track for this with the last few pre-assembled sections of dry stone walling going into place this morning. The plasterers put the final coat of render on the wall so it should all be ready in time. The forecast is for a bit of rain but there is no sign of that yet.

There was a distinct sense of nervousness on site this morning on the Daily Telegraph garden. The columns had arrived from France yesterday and we needed to start installing them today. Like anything you have not done before, you get nervous about getting it right, especially when each column is worth several thousands of pounds and weighs over a tonne. But the team, under Tony Collinson, took it slowly and had installed two by 10.00. They look magnificent and will really define the character of the garden. Cleve was a happy bunny!

David has worked wonders with the dry stone walling on his first day. The first buttress is complete and he will probably finish the second one by Wednesday morning. Whilst the traditional method is to lay the stone horizontally, the edge walling is layed vertically which looks wonderful. Tomorrow, the sculptured columns arrive from France which will be a major event and should start giving the garden its real character. The central section of the garden is sunken and you already can get a feel for the sense of space.

We have had a good day on the Telegraph garden. Cleve has got stuck in, helping with the watering and the stone work. The main wall is built and ready for render and we are largely on track. What is very satisfying is that our plan with the dry stone walling has worked. Last year, the dry stone walls took far too long. So we came up with a plan to build them in advance at the nursery and then lift them into place. The only work at the Show would involve just joining up the sections. The two photos show how the joins look – I don’t think you can see them in the finished version, which is a real credit to David Wilson and the team who built them.

Despite the rain we have been having over the last 24 hours, we have been making good progress on the Telegraph garden. The taxus hedge at the back of the garden is now complete and the main wall should be complete by the end of the day. All the pipe work is in place for the water spouts coming out of the wall so if the rain holds off tomorrow, we should be rendering the wall tomorrow. David has arrived from Scotland to start installing his dry stone walls so we are on track. Let’s hope it stays that way…

We successfully poured the concrete for the base of the water feature in the Telegraph garden. It may not sound important but it’s really important to quickly establish a base from which to work. The weather has been good to us over the last couple of days so we have tried to make the most of it. Cleve spent most of the day on site and got stuck in helping Bamber Wallis installing the pipes for the water. Over the next couple of days we hope to start building the water feature walls.