Tatton Park Flower Show 2012 - ideas for the plot.

A couple of weeks ago it was my 'local' flower show in the beautiful Tatton Park in Knutsford. I think I've been to nearly every one since it started and its been going a few years now. Its the northern show and I think it is slightly different from the other shows. For one its a high summer show with all the amazing floral displays of this season. It focuses a lot on the smaller gardens, with many back-to-back gardens which really give lots of ideas for urban gardens. It also has the cute flowerbed competition which continues to astound with the inventiveness each year.

I'm not going to go through all the gardens but just show some pics with ideas for the plot in this post. And for the garden in a separate post.

So first some ideas for the plot.

How about this for a cute little polytunnel and looks reasonably easy to put up at the allotment.

The above one looks even easier, there was a catalogue to buy this, this was on the Manchester allotment society stand and I got chatting to one of the blokes there and he suggested an even cheaper option from B&Q (or another DIY shop!), buy blue tubing, and the brackets which you can attach to a raised bed and cover with polythene. Not quite as sturdy as this but much cheaper. That may be something for me to plan for next year at the allotment.

Here's an idea for growing strawberries.

It would keep then out of the way of slugs, though they would dry out quickly in those small pots.

This was part of a whole bench for growing vegetables and salad.

Not sure that it fitted in with the style of the rest of the garden but an interesting idea.

If you run out of space on your plot try growing up the wall!

I'm very skeptical about how long it would stay looking like this and another challenge for watering.

Then after all your hard work on the plot how about this....