Come into the garden with Maud - all obsessive and wannabe gardeners welcome

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Whether you've got rolling acres or a tiny courtyard, whether you're a novice or a gardening die-hard, whether you're aiming for a garden of Sissinghurst loveliness or self-sufficiency à la Felicity Kendal in The Good Life, this is the place to be. Take a seat on the tastefully-painted Lutyens bench and chat with fellow enthusiasts. There may even be a bottle of gin in the potting shed.

It's Friday night, Monty's on in a couple of hours, so shall we open the wine?

::Sets out the MN GW picnic:

Hi everyone, welcome Pantry and anyone else new (only read current page).

Daffodils, I have Japonese anemones too, they do get everywhere, tis true. I'm more of a veg person too so not really sure. Am trying to get stuff going under trees in the shade and am doing ok with bleeding heart , primroses and geraniums so far.

Think I'm losing plot, could have sworn I ordered a siphon but no sign of it. On the plus side my oca is coming through, I have tiny cucumber flowers on their way, first chilli and strawberry flowers and signs of tomato flowers.

I'm trying to do decorated herb pots for craft activity at school fair so taking cuttings of herbs.

Cor Maud, missed that. It looks very pretty ! Can't wait for Monty. Been up since 3.30am when DD threw up and my nerves are shot . I need Monty's soothing words to chill me out.

Argh. Still haven't planted my lovely oca! What size pot will I need, Wynken?

Mine are in fairly small pots as that's all I had. Last year I think I used about 20cm pots which were fine until they went out.

Can I join!!? Have good sized veg patch (raised beds). Have been growing veggies for few years but now trying few different things. Just planted globe artichokes & fennel. Any tips? Oh & a thornless blackberry. My asparagus poking through! Love it! I am trying to grow things that are expensive to buy in shops to eat & taste better fresh. Have raspberries that do really well, & salad of all kinds. Last year grew swish chard for the first time & am very impressed as very easy & tastes lovely!

Well what a lovely day again. DH and I laid more concrete for his shed this morning, and finished repainting all the panels with treatment stuff. tomorrow the slab will be dry enough to lay the floor out and maybe a wall or two.

I dug up a lemon balm which (checking my perpetual gardening diary...) I planted at the end of August. It was probably one of those 3 inch herb pots. I split it before replanting and got five plants out of it, all of which would not look at all stingy in three inch pots. Onto the work intranet sales page they shall go! (plus, Humphrey I noticed the Latin name is Melissa Officinalis - another baby name for your list? without the Officinalis bit obviously !!)

As I sat by the pond with my cuppa I wrote a plan for what is yet to be grown on the edible side of the garden. I feel better having A Plan. I also enjoyed the sound of an absolutely non stop succession of honey bees coming to drink water from the edge of the pond where there is a half submerged stone for that very purpose.

There were butterflies too and a bumblebee kindly pollinating my broad beans which are in flower to a very healthy degree.

Loving the picnic Maud!

Melissa is a lovely name. I got a load of mint pots from one plant (no idea what kind it was but had very prolific purple flowers).

DH got hold of the hurdle maker today. This is a miracle, he hasn't been answering his phone but he is still hopefully coming. Hurrah. We are going to plant a yew hedge in front of it as we have found out you can keep it narrow if you want.

I have not even sowed my broad beans yet. Or my sweet peas. Still, I am always much later than everyone says and it always seems to work out.

DH is out pulling nettles out of the once and future wildflower meadow. Back breaking work he says.

I love lemon balm. I really want the golden/variegated form, but that seem surprisingly hard to find.

28 minutes to Monty Time.

I sowed my Broad Beans and sweet peas weeks ago and nothing germinated, they all rotted away - think DH may have drowned them when I was away for a week and he was in charge of watering. I shall be buying some more seeds this weekend and planting them

I have just seen that the slugs have chomped my cosmos seedlings down to the ground. Sob.

I have loads of sweet pea seeds from the 99p Store. I think I might try some direct sowing this year - I already have about 40 sown in root trainers.

::also have too much kit emoticon::

I wish my Japanese Anemones would self-seed - I adore them. The one I rescued from the dug up bit up the lane is not looking too healthy in its pot, but I'm holding on for a bit yet.

Experimented with the flame flower. Not that good on healthy green weeds but great on moss . Nearly set fire to the front garden though...

Be back later - must top up the ready for Monty.

Dh planted French beans , again& again&again. They seem to be getting stolen.
At least it's not my peas now!

woohoo! monty-time!

Be still my beating horticultural heart.

Now I know why I can't grow clematis! Can't dig that deep around here. Though very jealous of that wall full of them. I want that in my dream walled garden.

Maud - the Lidl rose arch looks like it cost. However, as I only wanted a frame and not something attractive in its own right, it's perfect (I took the bottom section off as it was too tall for the veg plot roof). Not sure I'd put it by a front door though. Think tent poles.

I have lots of clematis but no viticellas. I must rectify that!

Need to read the labels for my two survivors in pots. I think one (the healthiest) is a viticella.

And for subscribers to GW magazine, there are two freebie clematis (not viticellas) this month.

my grump at Joe Swift continues... "you don't want to just see the whole garden all at once that's boring". Humph, thanks mate. I actually like mine to be all like a stage set, that I can take in all at once from my French windows. Grumble grump.

I have no hope of growing clematis in my foot of clay soil ( over solid clay sublayer). Can't even dig into it. My honeysuckles seem to be doing pretty well though, and smaller perennials with roots to about six/eight inches down are very vigorous - lots of moisture seems to be retained. When I planted my glads and iris today in my front garden, it looked like a dustbowl but at just half a trowel's depth it was cool and moist. I have hope for those flowers.

we have just put in all viticellas in the rose walk - although DH didn't put them in quite as deep as Monty did.

Now DH is going on about the bloody pond again We have small children, we don't want a pond. He says he will put a fence round it. I envisaged a six foot solid panel fence with a lockable gate. He saw it more in terms of pig wire.

I might try moving a couple of the japanese anenomes then and see what happens, there are areas of the garden that they could self seed in quite happily just not where they are and not through my ruddy driveway!!

Hello :)

Having spent the last seven years getting oyr garden in a state where we can grow a decent amount if veg and experimenting with bits and pieces over the years, I now want to step things up a level. We have about half a dozen different raised beds, varying size from 4.5m x 1m to 1.5m x 1.5m and it's all empty and sadly lagging behind in the planting stakes :(
I really want to be a bit more self sufficient, but have a tenancy to overplant, then forget to prune and end up with a glut all at once, or it gets final disease and dies. I feel woefully behind after reading the thread :( and a little bit daunted.

I also have a thriving herb and strawberry bed and some empty beds underneath some trees which are very dry.

Lord, I could witter on all night, and have a load of questions to ask, but should shut up now

Oh, and we're in Yorkshire (very near the rhubarb triangle) and SW facing, so the garden gets sun to pretty much all corners at some point in the day. Our patio is so hot on sunny days mid summer that it's too hot to eat out there at tea time...and yet I can't grow tomatoes

It's been lovely reading about all your plots though :)

Forgot to say - was very brave today and pinched out my sweet peas. It always worries me but they're so skinny if I'd let them carry on they'd fall over!

Wynken - my oca aren't up yet but I planted mine outside. Hoping they'll appear soon.

Don't feel daunted LackaDaisycal - it is not too late at all. Just bung some stuff in. I am miles behind everyone else on the veg front, but this happens to me every year and it still works out ok.