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!

garden centre oops today...

went to get a pair of extending angled shears for the lawn edge and hedge top.

came out with three cyclamen, two choc cosmos, hyssop, lemon balm, silver thyme and horseradish.

and the shears.

I bought 30 tulip bulbs today.

::starting gently emoticon::

and have just been trimming the box hedge. Reading in the RHS magazine that it needs its last trim of the summer about now made me realise it hadn't yet had its first trim of the summer. Ooops.

I've also decided to try harder this year at propagation. I'll be saving seed from fennel, morning glory and cerinthe and trying to take some cuttings that don't dissolve into mush.

I am worried that I am going to become one of those women who take a plastic bag filled with damp cotton wool and a very sharp pair of scissors to gardens I am visiting.

I love those kind of trips to the garden centre Lex. Went to lunch at one today and the children were so naughty lively that we got out of there quick before any damage occurred.

Have not planted even ONE bulb yet as the flower beds are not yet dug. We like to live dangerously close to the edge here at Hobby Farm.

Erm. I seem to have spent Doctor Who on the Parkers website and have bought a couple of hundred bulbs. I blame you, Humphrey, for leading me astray. Now to find some nice pots. I am hoping for a trip to a nursery as a birthday treat next month.

::flexes credit card::

Does anyone want some clippings of Goldenheart ivy? I've been hacking it back and it'll take if you shove it into a pot of gritty compost.

come on, just one hundred more. you know you want to..

Yes, I do want to. But I'm going to have to erect some sort of multi-storey, Hanging Gardens of Sarf London Babylon staging to display them all as it is.

::Goes off to search Ebay for pots and staging::

I really want an early night but the bloody geese are still up. Dh usually puts them to bed but he is out at a gig. How sad is my Saturday night? The new grey ones are really naughty and run away when they see you coming.

I am resisting the temptation to buy stuff online too actually. The thought of those bulbs in flower is all very well, but the bad back I am going to get is less appealing.

That's one reason I plant bulbs in pots - less strain on the back, especially with a potting bench to avoid all the bending and crouching.

Well, my Saturday night is Doctor Who, Parkers and now Ebay. ::walk on the wild side emoticon:: I've found a lovely etagere but I reckon it might collapse under the weight of all the pots I want to put on it.

Oh and what's the gig? Is your dh performing or in the mosh pit?

performing, but no mosh pit. He plays folk music

Oooooh, I like folk music.

::dusts off Fairport Convention albums::

Is he famous?

no, not famous. He used to do it full time but has a respectable job now. When I met him he had long hair and a nose ring

I had to google etagere.

Oh. I thought he might be Seth Lakeman, who I hear is very gorgeous musically gifted. I'm enjoying watching Pulp on the telly.

How are the geese?

The geese are inside, after some chasing round the house. Nelly and Serafina (I know, but we are not going to eat them) were really well behaved and used to wander into the house when they saw me coming. The new ones are a bad influence.

I do agree about Seth Lakeman.

Good news about the geese.

I am more of the Fairport Convention/James Taylor generation, but I have heard good things about Mr Lakeman. I may have a foray onto YouTube once Jarvis has done his stuff.

DH used to be in some lovely bands. It was great fun going to all those festivals.The other day I caught myself telling some 17 year old festival newbie about how I once sneaked into Glastonbury in the back of a van, hidden under a drum kit, in a vain attempt to look slightly cool. She was distinctly underwhelmed.

You can't beat a bit of Fairport IMVHO. Or James Taylor for that matter.

I took my boys out the back into the woods first thing this morning with the Wolf Pole to finally have a go at that yellow plum tree. Came back with just over 2kg - left it slightly too long actually, there was a lot of over-ripe fruit on the tree. Also got a bag each of small/crab apples and pears. This evening I've made spiced plum chutney, and DH confirmed that the dribbles that didn't quite make it into the jar tasted good. Got my friend and her two small girls coming round tomorrow. Will be doing more jamming/jellying and foraging in the woods for elderberries and blackberries.

Have not bought ANY bulbs. yet. Have got a lot from last year's pots which I need to re-plant but surely it's early yet - I don't usually plant bulbs until at least October. I think.

I did tip out my leafmould from last autumn into a big trug. It's not as decomposed as I thought it would be. I had some in carrier bags (stabbed a bit to let water/air through) and some in those plastic mesh crates that fold flat. The stuff in the crates has turned to gloopy clay-like muck which feels full of goodness and supports some very large worms. The stuff in the bags is just wet leaves. I guess I will mulch with it all anyway.

Will try to get up early tomorrow and plant the things I bought today.

I've just seen on the Pulp thread that they're playing near me this week and I didn't even know. I have got out of the habit of reading gig listings (and, to my chagrin, I've never been to a festival, although I don't really do mud anywhere but in the garden).

.

(sorry to crash the music reminiscing... have nothing to offer on that front!)

I do like that jumper maud

You've reminded me, Lexilicious, that I need to use my apple picker (bought just slightly too late last year so still unused) to retrieve some fruit from the top of the tree.

Are you mocking the great Mr Taylor and his knitwear?

::wields trowel in self-defence::

MOCKING???? MOI??

You should see my 'garden fashion'. I am in no position to mock.

genuinely like the jumper... could just be unconsciously following the Forbrydelsen trend though

Sorry. I guess I'm so conditioned to people mocking my affection for 70s singer-songwriters. I just had to Google forbrydelsen!

Garden fashion? I want a pair of trousers with braces like Monty's, instead of jeans which always slip down.