I have already had my first sleepless night.

That was a while ago and the RHS hadn’t even announced their garden allocations for Chelsea Flower Show 2016; but now they have and it’s all systems go.

Yes – we’re in!

The Modern Slavery Garden has a much-coveted space in the grounds of The Royal Hospital Chelsea, the home of The Chelsea Flower Show. It is going to be in the ‘Fresh’ part of the show, because this is a garden with a difference. It is a conceptual garden, but I hope not obliquely so; I want it to be enjoyable, readable and memorable.

It’s been a long haul; we first met with the RHS shows manager in May this year – just to run the ideas past him and ask a few questions. Then I submitted the design in July. But it wasn’t my first design. Slavery is quite a tricky subject to talk about, let alone design a garden about.

How to ‘talk’ about an illegal trade in human suffering without putting a downer on everybody’s day? After all, Chelsea visitors will have paid a fair whack to have a good time, enjoying flowers and meeting friends.

I hope you like the first pictures of the garden.

I’ll explain more about its details next time.