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!

I am exhausted! But happily so. Had friend round today who has a level 2 RHS diploma and she helped me plant up my front patch. I had been digging and raking it approximately flat for nearly two hours when she came and she still told me it had to be so much more even. Tsk, these RHS high standards!! So we dug and raked some more and then (oh the novelty!) she made me lay out everything that I wanted to plant so that we could see how it was going to look. We put in three buddleia, a deutzia, a poundland climbing white rose (looking rather dead but I'll give it a chance because it's my fault I left it in it's bare root wrap), 50 acidanthera, 25 crocosmia lucifer, 12 phlox paniculata, 9 clumps of snowdrops and 8 clumps of aconite. Once I've raised some borage from @blackpuddingbertha's seeds (tyvm!) they will go out there too, and anything else that's red, white or blue (or anything in between) in spring/summer or white/yellow in winter.

Also did some good digging and raking yesterday morning (in the rain) one of my veggie beds to what I believe they call a "fine tilth" which is no mean feat in my clay soil. I dug the back corner of my rockery and planted crocosmia and alliums there, with a generous load of compost added too. I have about a metre by half metre left on the top of the rockery which has a wildflower mix on it which the insects love, and I've added a load of last year's nicotiana seed heads just scattered, with some more compost thinly laid on top. We'll see if that comes to anything.

Didn't catch the Italian gardens programme but will look for it on iplayer later - as two of you are raving about it now! Nothing so exciting as goose eggs here but tonight I am having pak choi grown over the winter in a recycling box and at lunchtime we had salad leaves from the other recycling box!!!

Wow! You have been hard at work. I did some pottering yesterday morning but since then have only been into the garden to hang up washing and soak my Mothers' Day daffs and tulips. They spent all day in the florists' bucket I recycled after a neighbour left it out on the pavement - there's a lot of that round here, a sort of low-tech, no-tech Freecycle - and are now looking lovely on the chimney piece. Oh and I got a lovely mimosa plant, too.

I missed Monty. Drat. Did he go to the Parco dei Mostri at Bomarzo? I thought it looked like it from the website.

Can I ask some advice? I've just finished painting up some old pine boxes in suitably tasteful National Trust type colours with a view to putting strawberries in them (at the behest of 8yo). I've been having a look at the strawberries on the Ken Muir website, but I wondered: we are North Yorkshire and pretty exposed. Any one know what varieties would do best here? I was thinking Mara des Bois, because its more perpetual, but if anyone has any ideas, I'd be v. grateful.

Other than that, I've been continuing the annual slash and burn and trying to keep the beautiful persicaria within bounds. It would be tapping on the kitchen door if I left it unchecked.

No idea about the strawberries, I'm sure someone else will though

I planted lots of basil and courgette seeds to sell out the front of my house today. I have been looking into what I can sell out there and sadly, having had the council say 'yes sell what ever you want' if I was to sell bread/biscuits or anything else I'd need not only the food hygiene cerficate (easy enough to get) but I'd also have to get insurance at c.£100 pa and register my property as a food business which as it's rented, I'm not allowed to do. I checked my contract.

So I'm rather deflated but it gives me more reason to buy a house soon. It would be worth doing the above if I went to the odd farmer's market perhaps, to boost sales. Who knows if I will ever do it, I hope so. It seems like a lot of money to pay out for the insurance for just a few loaves of bread and the odd pot of jam on sale.

I had good news though as my LL came round and is going to dig beds either side of the lawn and I get to choose what goes in them. One is really shady so I will have a think, but I would like to just chuck some wildflower seeds in them, the other is where my veggies go. It will save me having to find someone to lug my growbags around and get compost into them, as I can plant things directly in the ground; much easier!

Well it sounds like you've all been very busy.
I managed to sow some tomato & sweet peas seeds in some windowsill seed trays. First time I've tried to grow anything from seed so I'm quite excited. Our sills are only north facing though so I don't know how they'll fare.
Also bought a eucalyptus to plant but I put it where I planned (still in the pot) & I'm not so sure if it's the right place.
Also very excited as I can see our wisteria just staring to sprout. Now begins the annual wisteria flower watch.

So, if my poundland white climbing rose is not, in fact, alive, what recommendations would you all have for something with white summer flowers that will scramble over a trellis hiding bins ? In fact I have lots of gaps between the things I planted so any ideas of white to red to blue (and everything in between frankly, just not the orange part of the palette) would be great. Must be 'fire and forget' so I can just plant them and never need to prune or divide, just let them naturalise. Campanula are on my list. Also winter flowering things in white or yellow - honeysuckle or jasmine, forsythia, that sort of thing (have snowdrops and aconites).

I vote Maud to kick off the next thread btw.

I went away for a girl's ski weekend and missed not one but two Monty programmes! I'm sulking as DH didn't record them for me. Got back very late last night and found myself checking on the seedlings before checking on the DDs [bad mother emoticon]. Although the seedlings were downstairs so sort of on the way up to the bedrooms...

However, the good news is that the only things yet to come up are the red basil and the chillies. I now have borage, ornamental grasses & cucumbers to add to the sweet peas and the carrots already racing away in the conservatory.

Had some of my curly kale tonight for tea. Lovely.

Now Freezing has mentioned wisteria I need to remember to inspect the strange plant/vine thing out the front of the house that I allowed to come up last year. I am still fooling myself hoping that it is a wisteria.

Second Maud for starting the next thread

Wot? Why me?

::panics and fails to think of anything amusing to say::

They're on iplayer you numpties!!! The monty-fests I mean.

Maud, use 'chrysanthemums-net' in there somewhere. Or pelargoniumsnet.

Drat. Too late. You can use thse next time, Lexi.

A feeble effort but mine own.

Lexilicious, you could used clematis fargesioides. Looky here It is rampant in a montana style, but flowers from mid summer to autumn. I've got it over part of the side fence and it is quite something. I hack it back like mad every spring to give all the other plants a head start.

Oooooh. That is very lovely. There's always room for another clematis and I need more white things for the back fence.

Nice... but I have a few other difficult requirements - that says clay soil ok, but I don't think I can claim well drained. It needs to outdo horsetail too (I don't ask much!) and I think unless it creates a thick web of branches that obscure the trellis (yes, and bins) quickly, I probably need something evergreen.

Oooh - I have a ridiculously rampant Vinca in the back garden which is a bit much for where it's sitting! I could put it there - and it has occasional bluey-ourple flowers all year round. Resut=lt. Thanks for helping me realise that!!!