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.

Nice chutney LackDaisy. On the planting bit - most of us are quite keen and get planting far too early; not too late to start now. Try writing a list of what you want to grow then plan out which beds you could grow it in. Sounds like you've got plenty you just have to start somewhere.

Humph - If you do have a pond, I reckon the best solution is a sturdy grid just above or just beneath the surface of the water. My clever friend made hers from concrete-reinforcing mesh but there are companies that sell them. Mind you, I'm not sure whether this would work with a pond the size of Monty's.

Lackadaisycal - This thread is Wittering Central. Don't feel shy about wittering.

Cross-post. Humph says bung it in, I say plan it out first. Same message though - definitely not too late.

arse to autocorrect! Have had

Just thought of another question for the MN Gardeners' Question Time.

A lot of my older tulip bulbs (probably on their 4th eyar now) are coming up with very weedy, undersized flower buds. Some of them also have distorted leaves. Is this tulip fire or just being old and past it like me? Either way, I suspect they're destined for the compost, but if it's tulip fire I'll give them to the council to compost.

Dh not drinking - I've had to have the whole bottle on my own LackaDaisy. Didn't notice any problems with the autocorrect...

The lawn at the bottom of the garden has dog violets and lots of cowslips and a tall pink daisy thing a bit later than now.I really want to plant the cowslips in my shady area so they can hybridise with the primroses-monty-style to 'primslips' or whatever!.I love viticellas they seem to be really easy to grow.I planted 2 growing up a laurel bush,and they have thrived better than the montanas.Mine seemed to flower for several months.I did love Montys white variants though -seemed very tasteful.Totally unlike my garden at the moment which is full of clashing red,yellow and lots of pink tulips[due to a slight colour mix-up].Can anyone suggest good shrubs or perennials for a very dry free-draining soil and a south facing aspect.I am thinking about russian sage and buddliea and helenium but i am truly stuck after those .

Logically I know it isn't too late, but all the talk of actually planting rather than just thinking about it at this stage made me panic :o. First year here we didn't plant anything till after the Summer half term and still had good things to eat!

On a non veggie note, we have three holly trees at the bottom if the garden and some beds near them which are always very dry. It gets the sun in the morning, and I have some clematis and honeysuckle planted but it isn't exactly thriving. What plants, flowering perrenials esp. like very dry soil, that's partially sunny, partially shaded? Even the foxgloves I transplanted there have died a death, nothing is coming up at all.

And I have no greenhouse; this makes me ver ver sad!

lol bertha :o Having to drink a whole bottle yourself is such a trial, isn't it?

Loving all the whittering on about gardening & GW. I'm on my phone while feeding DS so can't scroll back so apologies if my post is all a bit disjointed

The clematis on GW tonight were amazing. Thanks for the tip on the free ones from the magazine. Is it one of those pay p&p only deals? Will have another look.

Lexi, I don't think much of Joe's design tips either. All the gardens he showcases look too over designed IMO. But then I much prefer that clematis style of garden anyway.

I'm of greenhouses & potting sheds. Although my windowsill greenhouse is working ok. This might be a daft question but all the seedlings I've now got are almost touching the seedling tray lids Is it okay just to take the lids off & leave uncovered now? I'm not sure what to do next .

And one final question, is it too late to prune roses? We were tidying up a holly bush today & found a rose growing through it. Looks a bit straggly and could probably do with a prune. I think it's a dog rose based on the hairy looking thorns. But I don't know much about roses either so could be completely wrong.

Sorry think that was an essay

We have a 1msq pond with a grill on. It's loads of plants growing out of it so it doesn't look like somewhere to walk either. I wanted to have a pond getting rid of the awful one that was here as we get loads of frogs/toads

Humph we have a pond and when we moved here DS was 6m. Now 2.8 and starting to think about trying to get over the picket fence which is about my inside leg high. I.e. I can step over it, just. We're of the overtrusting 'not fully childproofed, we teach him what not to touch' school of, er, child proofing. I rate an interest in wildlife higher than a totally proofed space so I am telling him that if he asks we can always go within the fence together to look at the frogs/skaters/watersnails. If he climbs on the fence otoh, it's sanction time. This is probably easier to do in a small Joe-Swift-boring garden where you can see everything at once.

Yeah if I was more worried I would get a grill to put over it and take the fence down. Someone who bought the house next door to my parents' last place filled in the pond saying "well you know, with kids n that you can't be having things like frogs around. Think of the kids yer know."

If not ponds what about a water feature? Frogs and things might still breed.

I just watched gardener's world over breakfast- fabulous, fabulous, fabulous. I have been planting my clematis too shallow in years gone by. This has come at just the right time as I have been looking at clematis to plant for this year.

Those viticella were stunning, as was the whole northumberland garden. I also liked the sweet pea tip. Three seeds in a pot. It looked so easy! Its odd how things which are probably obvious to gardeners just aren't to the ordinary person such as myself.

As for primroses- I prefer them wild and yellow on country banks. Joy yesterday, the anemone blanda has suddenly appeared and flowered!!!!!!!!

DH is planning a pond the same size as Monty - arghh.

I do agree about the not entirely childproofing, as risk has to be managed, but on a smallholding you simply cannot see where they are all the time. Plus there is always risk to be managed in a farming area already - ditches, roads, tractors etc. DH wants to put the pond in the bottom of the orchard. I was thinking that soon DS will be able to go and play down there by himself (he is five and has a den down there), it is out of sight of the garden entirely. Not if there is a bloody great lake pond down there!

BlackPuddingBertha - yes, plan first then bung em in.

It is my brother's fault, he suggested stocking it with trout

I'm trying to gather plants to sell at car boot in 2 weeks. Ive loads of tree onions and tomatoes. Trying to get some cut mint to grow in pots & persuade dh we don't need 50 geraniums & 20 lupins in our pretty full garden!
How much do people sell plants for? I have some big tree onions & small ones. Tomatoes are a couple of inches so only little. 8 inch tomatoes are 75p on the market so was thinking30p?

Quick q - will it be too late to plant some Dutch iris bulbs next week? Am I best off waiting till next year now?

HJ - my 3 inch tomatoes went for 50p each last week - not exciting varieties either.

QK - not too late at all.

I will probably be on here wittering madly tonight as DH and DS have gone to deepest darkest Woking for a party/sleepover and I stayed behind. We have almost the whole shed frame up and I rashly promised to think about doing the next bit (nailing purlins to roof boards). In fact I want to plant my Poundland gooseberry, pot on my peppers and chillis, and watch crap telly with the 5/6ths of a bottle of Chenin Blanc which is screaming at me from I am dimly aware is in the fridge. 5/6ths - only had one glass last night, see. If I'd had two I might have been less bovvered by Joe Swift and his swipe at too-small-to-'design'-anything gardens. Although I believe he lives in a London Victorian terrace so his must either be boringly all-at-one-look or a dark twisty grotto.

I just ordered this today.

www.greenfingers.com/superstore/product.asp?dept_id=200672&pf_id=LS6536D

Am very excited. Will get my windowsills back and bought lots of exciting looking seeds at the garden centre today. I don't know where I'll put everything and think I've bought too many...

Popped to Wisley again this afternoon. Generally beautiful with the blossom and the magnolias and the daffodils and the tulips...

Lex - DD2 wanted to know if we could look for the lady with the three-wheel pushchair and the pink trousers again!

I would be very wary of the pond/lake plans too Humph. Water and small children out of sight would make me paranoid. And I'm of the 'less is more' variety of child-proofing normally.

Queen kong- am tempted by that and I already have 2 proper ones. But its looks a bargain!

Lexilicious - Joe Swift is the most annoying man. We don't listen to his bits of GW at all, just talk through them. New shed sounds exciting.

QueenKong, that looks really good. Nice and strong.

I put in a load of majoram cuttings today, all along the border of the path by the playhouse. The children's seeds are starting to germinate already, I hope the frost doesn't finish them off.

Lots of purple orach seedlings making their way through the mulch in the herb beds. I love that plant.

Evening all. I've had a lovely day in the greenhouse getting my seeds in, I'd seperated my packets in to two piles the other week - ones to get started immediately and ones to get going in April... Can't believe it's April tomorrow, plus I've little to no room left on the shelves for more seedlings. Time is flying and I'm feeling woefully behind like Lackadaisycal.
Digging over the veg patch tomorrow.

I got some spuds going too but they weren't chitted - will it matter? I've put in 10 seed spuds, the rest are now on a sunny windowsill and I thought I'd put some more in next week?

Agree re those divine clematis on GW last night. And I 'heart' Monty :)