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!

That looks lovely, Wynken. And I covet your proper watering cans. I've been thinking that this year I might trade up to a Haws - the Bugatti Veyron of watering cans.

It's just occurred to me that what I have been nurturing in a pot as a teeny-weeny callicarpa from Parkers might in fact be a magnolia stellata. I have just started keeping a log of what I order online, but this predates that efficiency!

My potting table is an unsightly mess at the moment, but actually the whole garden looks a bit of a building site due to the pile of gravel sitting outside the back door, along with the pile of stones that DH is going to use to make the path between the crab apples.

Hellebores are beautiful. We have two large clumps (one of the few things that already existed when he bought the garden) and they really need splitting. Should I do this after flowering?

gardenofeaden.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-to-propagate-hellebores.html

this is a useful link. I also remember reading somewhere once that even a leaf would grow a new plant, but this link doesn't mention leaves so perhaps not.

Ooooh I have just googles a Haws - could do with a long spouted one to reach into the strawberry basket, it's a bit higher up than anticipated. The galvanised one in the picture was a fiver on my tour of garden centres last week, was pleased with that.

Humphrey, we're only just past the building site stage after getting the greenhouse (or Crystal Palace as my neighbour calls it) and it might all go wrong again depending what goes on the floor. Better now though than mid summer when everything is out. Think you are supposed to split Hellebores after flowering but I managed to kill the entire clump when I tried so probably am not the person to give advice on this !

Can someone call the next thread "potting table porn"? Or "what do you get up to in your shed?", or some other smut? Love it Wynken, mine is on my profile... B&q sink unit (sans doors, natch), an mdf piece and length of random shallow worktop for a surface.

I can't get over the scent on that hill in Wisley - camellias actually smelling of tea, sarcococca and magnolia pumping out woody and fruity smells, something shrub sized and amazing with little buddleia-like clusters on the ends of very woody branches that was like a perfume counter had just suffered a ram raid. Oh and I swear on the fruit field the apple trees actually smelled of apples - the flowers weren't even open!

I am exhausted though. Swimming for about an hour ths morning, then a couple of hours walk pushing the buggy, then hoisting pots around... I'm beaten. I have to get off the sofa and put the bins out but I don't waaaaant toooooo...

Great link, thanks funnyperson

Lexi, you are so eloquent in your description. It sounds lovely.

It also reminded me that the blossom is out on the small plum tree. The damson blossom will be along soon.

That is along the lines of my old potting table Lexi. I do love my new one but can't help feeling I'm going to stress if I get it dirty which will completely defeat the object! Thing is we have a weird plot, the house has garden all around and the greenhouse is in the front garden on a weird triangle bit to the side of driveway. Although totally hidden from the road it is the first thing you see coming down the drive and I feel an obligation to our neighbours to make it look halfway decent. Your garden looks lovely and am impressed with what you have managed in small amount of time with small children.

Can I join aswell ( I think I did briefly further up the thread), Today DH has jet blasted the patio and the furniture which looks so much better. I have dug over one of our flower beds which has been bare after we took up some slabs last year, I was helped in this task by our chickens who all got ery excited about the worms. I have another bed to do (which we did some veggies in last year) and then I am off to take my list of plants for bees to the local very good garden centre. Once I plant something then I forget the name so please no difficult questions. I also cleared out four planters which had some ropey herbs in, any suggestions what to put in them, alos have some pots to fill but will do that later this spring.

I have also today bought a polytunnel and some top soil ready for vegetables on a slightly larger scale than last year.

Oh yes, a mildly smutty thread title may help pull in the punters although I didn't have much luck with my come and talk about my butt thread.

Fivegomadindorset - once I plant something I forget the name
I do this.

Congratulations on a new polytunnel, I really want one of those

The 'not wanting to get the potting table dirty' thing has just reminded me of an Estate I went to for work a few months ago. They had a brand new potting shed in which the owners had put about 4m of solid walnut down for a potting surface. The gardeners however didn't want to get it dirty so they'd made these covers for it out of plywood!

Hello again five. Did you want to replace the herbs or are you looking for other inspirational pot ideas?

Dug out the greenhouse border today and tidied up in preparation for the veg!!

Please tell me your Forsythia isn't out yet either? Popped into garden centre yesterday and they were starting to bloom

Has anyone made their own wigwam for sweet peas (they are sooo expensive to buy!)? What did you use? Will garden canes be strong enough?

Five/humph, I keep all the labels of everything I've ever planted. In any sort of order? Nah. Mapped to locations? Nah (there are even labels of things from gardens I no longer live beside). With a 50-70% survival rate of things planted recently that means the likelihood of those labels representing what is somewhere in my front or back gardens tends towards or below 50%. Foolproof i.e. proves a fool...!

I always label things as I plant them, but the labels seem to get buried or kicking out by the cats, squirrels and foxes. It means that digging the beds becomes an exercise in memento mori as the labels of long-disappeared plants come to the surface. I think I might start writing them in the gardening journal which dd gave me for Christmas, instead.

I was thinking today about sweet peas, as dd requested we grow some. I have 3 metal obelisks (decaying but I think they'll last another year) and a woven wigwam. Last year I also made a wigwam from canes but it was not a thing of beauty - the yellow of new canes is quite glaring and the plants weren't luxuriant enough to hide it - so if you can get hold of hazel to weave your own wigwam I think it's worth a go.

Other ideas I think other than a lavander hedge, there are four of them separating very big patio from lawn area, I guess 1.2m by 30cm.

Writing down what I have planted sounds like a great idea.

I hope the polytunnel will be OK, after much searching found one 14ft by 25ft for £409 with free delivery.

I have a box-full of labels too. I have no idea what plants they relate to apart from the short period of time where the plant actually looks like the picture. Was contemplating taking photos of the long bed as things flower this year so I remember where bulbs and plants are and so I can see what I want to move/replace or where the gaps are. Good in theory but will only work if I actually get around to doing it.

Survivingwinter, I used Wilko's tall bamboo canes at the allotment for sweet peas and they did well but didn't look great. Last year I used Hazel sticks sone local guy was selling - 8 for £6 or something ? They looked much nicer abd are fine for this year.

Bertha, I'll get some ply !

Hi FivegomadinDorset. Great size Polytunnel, am very jealous. You're nit too far from me if your username is an indication of where you live.

I don't keep labels, as I never remember what they are for or where I've put them and they would only stress me out working out what they are for.

Ah, just remembered that last year I got some bamboo hoops from the 99p Store. They're not quite tall enough for sweet peas, but they look a lot better than the straight canes. I haven't noticed whether they have them in store this year.

nice potting table. Mine is more utility look. but I'm quite pleased with my hanging storage device in the greenhouse ( other wise known as a cut down 2l pop bottle on a bit of wire hooked onto a strut.) Perfect for keeping a knife and string out of reach of small child.

DH has dug over the former flower bed being turned into more lawn, he did it while I was at work today, and he seeded it, top dressed it and watered tooo. what a star.

I got lettuce, spring onion and radish seeds in the other day, need to get spuds & beans in soon. - I'm in the south west, our spring starts early compared to some.

Purbecks Wynken.

Thanks for the welcome. Crikey you lot don't half chat.
Humphrey, 350 tulips that puts my 15 tulip bulbs to shame. Talking of bulbs I also put some alliums in and the foliage has come up but there is no sign of any flower head yet, even the beginnings of one. Is that normal or do I have dud bulbs?

All this talk of potting sheds and green houses is making me a tad envious. We don't have either nor the space to put one in. I'm trying to persuade DH to make a little space in our summerhouse for me to use as a greenhouse, although I'm not really sure where to start.

Managed to potter about in the garden all afternoon while DD played in sandpit & DS slept in pram.

Thanks for the welcomes, too. Having said hello I've been off for the Labour Day weekend but back now.

I'm in Melbourne so while it rarely gets a hoar frost, it can roast in the summer. We live on what was once a sand dune, so, ahem, well-drained soil.

This is a new house and garden, with old sprinkler-style irrigation which we're pulling up as we dig, and will eventually install dripper when we can afford it.

The raised beds were infested with spider plants which had to be dug out and hand weeded, though this is easy in sand.

The drought has broken but we're still planting with mostly natives as we want it to be as low maintenance as possible.

The good thing about natives is you have to plant small (and therefore cheap) so their roots can get a grip. The soil can't be enriched as the natives don't like it, so mulching is very important.

Down one long north-facing passage by the side of the house, we've planted sub-tropicals and the shade lovers; bromeliads, Swiss cheese plant, hoya, birds' nest ferns, clivia, jade plant, aspidistra and plectranthus. The passage is overlooked by windows running its length, so it's beautiful right now.

Envious of all the tulip talk - I don't bother with them now as you can't get the lovely scented ones, Ballerina, here, and it's slightly too hot for them to do as well here.

Autumn is good for native hibiscus and tibouchina never seems too stop, but I'll have to.

I have been rubbish with planting this year, at this rate I'll just have fruit all summer! I got my nursery class to sow wildflower seeds on Friday, so we should (with a bit of luck) have a decent amount of wildlife this summer.
I usually have a load of seedlings up already by March, this year I have a couple of seed packets, I've not even put compost in pots. One of these days...