Humph's Happy Horti-cult: harvesting, preserving, mulching, leaf-gathering, bulb-dibbing, seed catalogue-surfing and hunkering down for winter

[Lexilicious]

Following on from the original March to August thread. For all - whether still gardening through the winter or planning to sweep the shed, hibernate, sharpen the tools and get started again in the spring.

Happy gardening again!

Will need to move the snowdrops before they die down Maud otherwise I won't know where they are! So I'll just give it a go and see what happens. Just got to decide where to put them. I may sneak a few clumps in amongst the new daffs around the base of the magnolia. I wonder if DH will notice...

Sounds good to me!

Urgent news flash: Lidl is selling roses at £5 for 2. They're not named - I have bought an anonymous dark pink and a yellow climbing rose - but they look like good plants.

The unmistakeable sound of amphibian shagging hit me last night as I went to put out a bin bag. I crept over to the pond with my headtorch on low and caught Freddie and Fenella in froggy flagrante delicto. I did the croak myself (say rrrrr and let your throat sort of creak like a horror film door opening) and they came coyly towards me... I feel a name change coming on, 'frogflirter'?. Last year I think I had fourteen distinct clumps of spawn by the time they had worn themselves out. 18 months ago when I cleaned out the pond there was a newt too, but I've never seen any spawn from it. Maybe s/he can't find a mate.

Next door's dogs unfortunately also were very interested in the sound of me out there and the light from my head torch, and started tearing at the panels of the fence. It was like that bit in Jurassic Park when the raptors are nose breathing and moving their heads to look through the gap/small window. I either need to put a secondary fence up, strong chicken wire type perhaps, or tackle my slightly scary neighbour to put more protection on his side.

First couple of daffodil heads are blooming on my front path and I will have time this weekend to sort out my front patch in advance of the main body of bulbs/plants coming. It's also time to plant a second wave of veg seeds I think, if only I had more windowsill space...

Also... Monty's back on 9th March! he tweeted yesterday about starting filming the new series of Gardeners' World. That's Friday nights sorted (or perhaps Saturday lazy mornings in bed).

You have a headtorch in order to be an amphibian voyeur flirt with frogs? I've heard it all now.

::Weeps at the thought of missing a tweet from Monty::

Oh Maud I even RT'd it - you should have it from me! Something about packing his trunk (posh boy, I guess that is a boarding school reference)

The headtorch is primarily for slug persecution hunting purposes.

Hooray. Monty is back. Can't wait

DH ordered a load of mulch today for the cottage borders. Hopefully this will cut down on some weeding time this summer.

We have cows and calves on one side and sheep and lambs on the other. It is lovely.

had many parcels waiting for me when I got home today... on the front step, freebie strawbs, asparagus and snowdrops. in the back garden, two offerings of dog shit from next door's breeding akitas which had torn enough slats from the fence to get in last night. Wish I had Humph's neighbours

am annoyed. they/it trampled daffs and iris in the border/rockery and I feel a bit invaded. Neighbour has been round to alopogise and will get fence replaced. It might only be done by the council in their own sweet time though, as they're housing association tenants. Grrrrr.

Yuk, Lexi. Could you get on to the housing association and say the dogs have caused damage but you won't pursue the matter as long as they replace the fence within [name your deadline]?

My free snowdrops came today too, but as I bought 10 pots at the weekend it'll be hard to find a space for them!

Ooh Gardener's World is back? I can't wait.

I was in the car today and as I was passing the garden centre I thought I'd pop in. Beautiful, beautiful packets of seeds everywhere and little pots of fuschias growing. I would love a hanging basket of giant fuschias when I have my own place.

I did want to say 'oy, where are your packets of wildflowers? And where are the labels saying 'pollinator friendly?' Since watching Sarah Raven's BBandB I have been getting rather passionate about them and think I feel the need to write a letter to some garden centres/the council about such things.

Oh Lexi, how annoying. Sorry to hear that.

Have planted things! Carrots, spring onions, cauliflower, peppers, chillies & sweet peas. Felt good

I've done some more seeds too - dwarf beans, courgettes and ... and... god I hope I labelled them because I can't remember !! Pak Choi was one perhaps.

I've calmed down a bit about the dogs now. I will give him a week to get in touch with the council/HA and then get on to them myself, but I'll let him know I'm "acting" the moaning house proud neighbour to get them moving on it quicker.

Buds appearing on my dwarf peach and apricot trees which I was going to give bigger pots, but would they be ok to move when they're no longer dormant? Also big fat buds on two of my blueberries (yay!) which I will look after better this year and hope to get more than ten berries (for the £16 that the trio of plants cost )

DH did some weedkilling yesterday for me but I think it will require more applications. I have no doubt the horsetail will laugh in the face of all types of glypho. My JParkers order also arrived the other day so I have bare root phlox, buddleia, lavender and bulbs to plant with my raspberries - a full couple of mornings' work so I had better get on with my day job now instead of sitting with my magazine listening to birdsong, woodpecking and frog flirting noises from the woods...

Romanesco, that was the other ones. I've run out of trays now to put all my seedling pots on. Any suggestions of something likely to be lying around that I could use? Baking trays are perhaps an option. Does foil work? Maybe foil wrapped cardboard?

I think foil could work as long as you're careful not to rip it. I use cheapo kitchen trays from the 99p Store.

I plan to start seed-sowing tomorrow morning. My other Lidl bargain this week was peat-free compost for £1.99 for an admittedly half-size (40L) bag. My gardening not-a-bargain was severing the cord on my iPod headphones when pruning the jasmine!

Oooooh 99p store, yessss!! Was looking for just one more excuse to go into town today! (overpaying mortgage and critical ground coffee situation being the first two)

Yea, verily, the 99p Store is a thrifty gardener's heaven on earth.

ok I've been in 99p store and parted with small amounts of money for green and red gooseberry bare root plants as well as the trays I came for. Now got to decide whether to go back in for bare root roses - named varieties too!

I've said before that last year's Paul's Scarlet from the 99p Store did not thrive - in fact it seems to have vanished to nothing - but it was such a bargain that I'm trying again. Their bare root aquilegias were fab too.

Well I got a very similarly packaged white climbing rose from the poundland, in the end, and some fleeces for over my fruit trees, a car boot liner, a set of pot trays, and was tempted by their stacking cloverleaf planters, but I already have a strawberry planter. Also some blood fish and bone and potato fertiliser. Then to the garden centre for peat free compost and farmyard manure, and some rat bait and rose food.

I have a two hour window (three if get my arse out of bed early) to do lots of thing tomorrow morning while my boys are at soft play. I need to plan it tonight, to military precision! Ha ha ha as if.

You all sound so busy I have been ill so unable to do any gardening I am too old for this pregnancy. I am a sick as a dog.

DH, on the other hand, has had a very busy day. Along with a friend, all the turf has been lifted from the top bit above the veg patch. We need to choose two trees to go in there (one will probably be a quince) and decide how to make our spiral thingy for alpines. Hopefully this will look like the one from Hampden Court Gardens. He has put in a climbing hydrangea by the shed door, planted another couple of blueberry bushes and moved a pile of stones ready for the path between the crab apples.

russet would be a nice name for a boy. or (king) Edward. just sayin'.

I'm sure I've said this before, but, I want a Poundland!!!

How come every magazine at the moment comes with free seeds? I'm not sure I'll be able to resist sneaking in some extras that aren't on my plan...

My broad beans are flowering! Very pretty flowers I have to say. However, I still have the fleece over them; I'm going to have to take that off aren't I? Just don't know if I should wait until after next week's cold snap that's predicted or just go for it. Any advice anyone?

Just ordered one of these to try in the conservatory. We've been thinking about my cucumber-growing plan and how we can get them to fit on the windowsill. I'm thinking this may work so we're getting one to experiment. Look quite ingenious to me.

Well, if a boy is going to be named after a potato, how about Maris Piper? Rather distinguished, I think. Do you growe ginger, Humph? It's reputedly good for sickness.

About these cheapie roses. Has anyone's come coated in wax? My two from Lidl did and now I'm wondering whether it needs to be scrubbed off or whether it'll just drop off as the plant grows. Any views?