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.

I'm dithering about planting mine out (got the bed ready for them). Last night it froze but tonight it is 9 degrees above.

I'm relying on the micro-climate in my very small and enclosed garden.

DH though has planted his on the allotment and was watching Monty with great reverence tonight.

I think I shall plant them out tomorrow if the weather is fine - I can always cover them if needs be.

DH was speaking to the farmer whose fields border our garden and he is planting them with a crop of lupins this year - I'm quite excited as it is certainly more interesting than the corn that usually goes in there.

I planted first and second earlies at least a month ago, and more seconds and a maincrop about 2 weeks ago. The ones in the ground weren't showing any shoots last week but those in the planter bags were. My problem, as ever, is going to be storage - I haven't really got anywhere cool enough, so once they're up they have to be eaten/cooked. Standard sized fridge freezer too, so not unlimited space for premade gratins and shepherds' pies.

RHS Rosemoor this afternoon, yay!

Hello! Have been directed to this thread from here

Lovely to meet you all.

Hi lifeis!

Thought you'd fit in here with the gardeners world obsession interest [ grin]

Pantryboy whereabouts are you? I'm in the SE and my bleeding heart is coming out - earlier than last yr , which I believe means the plant is getting exhausted. Hmm.

In case anyone makes the mistake of thinking h
I am any kind of a gardener, I realised that my new dahlia tubers, which I lovingly planted in pots last weekend, are upside down! FFS!. I've never planted a tuber before and none of the 'beginner gardener' books tell you the actual basic point of stem up, bulby things down! I googled last night and fohnd the answer on a message board. Gah - will re pot today. Sigh.

Welcome LifeIsSweet.

Charityagirl, I'm in Wales. Bless you with your tubers. That's the kind of thing I do. I just bumble along in the garden with lots of hope and enthusiasm but not much knowledge.

I'm watching The Victorian kitchen garden DVD at the moment and I'm quite keen to try some of the things they do.

I'm dying to plant my peas out cos I need the trays and greenhouse space dh says its too early and they should only be out in the day. What do you lot think?

We are in Cumbria but not the snowy bits.

I planted half my peas out this week and we have frost the first night but they seem to be alright. Mine were in an unheated greenhouse.

Our greenhouse is unheated.
We've loads and I'm thinking of two trays worth rather than all 10

I got my RHS seeds today! Sweetcorn, tomatoes, spring onions and a teeny variety of squash!

I saved some seeds from a butternut squash which we had the other night, they are now dry, do you think they will germinate?

I now have 2 full greenhouses of seeds/seedlings/plants that aren't ready to go out. I've moved some of my peas out but they are very sheltered.

I got first earlies in about a month ago. Onions, broad beans and garlic too. Garlic looks great, broad beans okay, the slugs have visited,but I've got those blue organic things to keep them off now. Hope they work.

My house and garden survived 20 marauding children seeking easter eggs yesterday - and the weather was perfect so we did the first BBQ of the year (also gave some veg plot tours). Had a small child say, 'Bertha - you do the best easter egg hunts'. Smug.

Unfortunately the hard frost on Thursday night has finished off my magnolia flowers; even the ones yet to flower have turned brown

Got a few more bits and bobs in the veg plot this afternoon, including my 5 free potatoes - now planted in the bag they came with. Can't remember what they are though but Monty put his in so thought I would too

Can't wait to hear about all the lovely veggies being eaten in a few months time :)

I bought some more veg plants today, 16 pea plants and 9 broad beans for only £3 at the local urban farm. There are allotments there and they sell the surplus.

I planted what I thought were first earlies the other day, but it seems they are seconds. Is it too late now for firsts? I'm going to put the rest of the seconds in in a week or so, along with the main crops.

Is it possible to plant first or seconds later in the season, for new potatoes in autumn? We always end up giving loads away as we get a glut all at once.

I would like to do more with flowers and shrubs, but I'm utterly clueless.

Got some weeding done today, the herb garden and our horrible concrete paved patio. I planted some mint last year and it died. I have never had any luck with mint...until now! It's coming up everywhere, and I dug out a huge clump of roots and runners! It is being transplanted into a trough, though I guarantee it won't grow where I want it to

I'm really excited about all my veg this year :)

The easter egg hunt sounds perfect

Yes I liked the way he planted his potatoes too. Also those healthy hostas.

My hostas came in a brown box - bare roots- I'm thinking perhaps I should grow them in pots and get them to Monty's stage before I put them in the ground.
Am thinking astrantia 'shaggy' and 'venice' might go with the tree lilies and hosta, and perhaps some grass like this www.woottensplants.com/plview.asp?ID1=10189
I'm thinking light colours as its a darkish corner.

With the dahlias at my mums I'm thinking companion planting with more astrantia shaggy (apparently they are slug repellent) blue flowering sage, cosmos and erysimums. Its not a very delicate colour scheme but these are mixed dahlias. Still mulling it over. Especially the idea of companion planting.

I felt sorry for the army wives with no flowers or fruit in the gardens.

Bertha, that happened to our magnolia for three years running. It was as old as our house (mid. 50s) but was way too sprawling and took up half the garden, so we made the decision to take it out as it looked good for just a week and a half every year. I want to replace it, as I still feel guilty about removing such an old tree

CharityGirl, you remind me of my niece who got keen on gardening and planted some crocuses in pots - when they didn't do anything for some weeks, she tipped them out to have a look and discovered she had planted them upside down and they were taking ages to grow the shoot all the way round and up.

It would have been understandable if she hadn't been halfway through an Agriculture degree at the time ....

Maud, my mum reckons the mystery rhubarb-like thing is a peony. Have no idea if we were too rough with it - peony sounds like a delicate little girl to me, having never had one I have no idea if slamming a sharp spade through the middle was the right thing to do.

Lovely time at Rosemoor today. I was the one wearily chasing a little blond boy in a blue snowflake jumper who was having an attack of enthusiasm around every corner. I came away with two new (to me) varieties of thyme, and a 50p bargain bucket aubrietia for him, which I said he could plant almost wherever he wants. He maintained a passing interest in the egg hunt trail and the signs of spring trail, which earned him or rather me because I filled out the leaflets a box of mini eggs and a nature explorer badge respectively.

Have seen some primroses valiantly battling through building rubble outside here so will go out tomorrow before my mum notices, dig them up, split and plant them in her hedge bank. I will not be thwarted!!

Lex, if it is a peony, it won't have taken too much harm. We have split ours lots of times, and if anything it comes up even stronger. The main thing is to replant it with the tubers poking out on the surface as they don't like being fully buried.

I planted some potatoes today on the allotment, about 30 chits.

To a lot of sucking of teeth by other allomenters as it was too 'early'. I disagree, think that was the last frost.

I also planted about 40 ranunculus in a completely random fashion in any space. I wish I'd planned my beds years ago - every single one has an assortment if stuff in it.

Not so much 'companion planting' as 'oh fuck there's a space I can reach today'.

My garden evolves rather than being planned. The thing is that certain
neglected areas need ..erm... more 'evolution' than others, and thats why I am in the position of being able to plan the planting.

I love Laurie's 'Oh fuck there's a space I can reach' approach to gardening!

[bugrin]