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.

Haven't tried the slug traps yet PantryBoy but will report back when I do. Will try and get them in tomorrow.

Love the nogg - but they'd need to be gold-plated chickens for someone to pay that for a hen house!

My friend built her hen house from scrap timber and old stained glass windows. It's palatial!

In the fields near us there is an old beat up caravan where hens are kept- they love it , and are very happy running up and down its ramp, very amusing to watch as they look like they are on a seaside holiday without the sea.

Can I ask what you use to train climbers such as clematis? My viticella have arrived and look flourishing already in their pot. Monty had a simple system of wires against his brick wall. Maud mentions netting for her Montana.

Hello everyone - I am thankfully back at the gardening, after a rather sad couple of weeks.

Still - I dug the round veg plot today so am on the mend

The garden is looking fab thanks to all DH's hard work. I will try and catch up with what you have all been up to....

Sorry to hear you've had a sad couple of weeks humph. And Lexi that's awful about your fence and waterbut.

very jealous of everyone who has chickens!

funnyperson I used plastic trellisy stuff on a roll on the now-departed fence. It happily held up honeysuckles and a thornless blackberry. I will put it back onto the new fence today or tomorrow, but I am now also thinking about using galvanised wire in the gaps - will have plenty left over when I've tension-wired my raspberry canes out the front.

Hope you are OK Humph.

Victory is mine - this morning there were 27 dead slugs in my homemade beer trap.

Is it sad that I counted them and took a picture for my blog? DH thinks so, but is far too wise to actually says so although it was written all over his long suffering face

As a newbie I hope that Humphrey you will not mind me offering sympathy and good gardening and I hope that your DC and your pregnancy and your job are all going to be fine and lots of sympathy for the sad two weeks.

Do the beer traps work for snails as well as slugs? Don't like to use the pellets as we have dogs - though now I think of it I'll have to keep an eye to make sure the dogs don't drink the beer!

There weren't any snails in there - did I mention there were 27 slugs! They weren't very big, but it is early in the year

I tipped them out in the grass in the field in case the birds would eat them.
I have a taste for this now - I am setting three traps tonight!

I'm thinking of chalking up a tally chart in the potting shed!

When I used slug traps I always tipped the cadavers onto the beds, as a buffet for the birds.

My clematis netting is like Lexi's on one fence and on others I have used the sort of netting sold for fencing. The book from which I first got the idea recommended sheep netting, but they don't sell much of that on sarf London.

Hope all ok Humphrey.

Didn't get out to put the slug traps in today, might just slip out between rain showers in a minute - 27 slugs is pretty good going! I want that many beery slugs too.

I am fine, thank you for all your good wishes. Although I am no longer pregnant, and have rather been through it these last few days. I didn't mean to drip feed, sorry I should have realised my post was somewhat unclear.

BUT - really, getting into my garden was very very healing. I felt ok for the first time today when I dug over that patch of earth.

Humph - I have long believed in the therapeutic benefits of gardening. I am sorry that you lost the pregnancy but hope you will enjoy and get plenty of rest in your beautiful garden which I not so secretly covet.

Humph, welcome back. Hope all is well.

May I just have a little more of a moan about the fence? They have not followed the ground level but have stayed perfectly horizontal. While this makes it look very smart, it also means there is a large gap below the gravel board, which somewhat defeats the purpose... I will need to put something there to keep my (improved with compost at vast expense) topsoil on my side of the fence.

Still, I came home early enough to put my plant-support stuff back up on the fence. Climbers now vertical again. Found that they had cut right through three out of four honeysuckle stems, but at least one survived and also it is nothing rare or precious.

DH was muttering last night about my shed being better quality than his (new) one, so I said we could possibly come to some arrangement... The new shed is 7x10 and has a full south facing window down the 7ft side... Seedling heaven! While the first shed is 6x8 but doesn't require >6ft DH to stoop when standing at the eaves.

Lots of weeds coming up in my red/white/blue front garden. Be prepared of me to spend a lot of time whining about horsetail from now on...

Sorry humph, terrible xpost. I didn't realise. Gentle gardener's hugs to you - slightly grubby but all organic. Xx

Lexi. You probably know already that the key to fighting horsetail is to increase the depth of the topsoil. This had been the strongest reason for our making raised beds on the lottie, where the stuff is rampant.

I don't have much further I can go in that bed maud - but I know you're right and will bear it in mind. I think I made quite a difference to the path-side border last year by digging it out completely and going through it very carefully to remove the roots, then adding lots of yummy compost. However it just re-invades from neighbouring sites. The middle of the garden should become well ground-covered with phlox which I hope will suppress the pernicious weeds, but... We'll see.

Sorry for your loss Humph :( I've been there a cpuple of times, and losing myself in the garden definitely helped. Don't overdo it though

Not much gardening going on at all here; our weather is a whole heap of crap at the minute and it's too wet, cold and windy to venture outside. My veg plants and herbs are surviving on the patio though!

you lot are lovely

am off to Derbyshire for a few days holiday, am really looking forward to seeing the gardens at Chatsworth. Anyone been there?

Not yet, Humph. Send us a report!

Our initial plan for Easter was to go to Northumbria, to Alnwick Castle - I want to see the Poison garden and dd would love the tree house - but we took fright at the prospect of snow and no petrol to get home.

So sorry Humphrey. Joining Lex in the gardener's hugs but mine are a bit beery from setting the slug traps.

Oh Humph - been there, it sucks big snails :( I'm so sorry.

My fabulous anti-cat poo spray hasn't lasted through the rain so I'm going to have to go on the nappy bag run again tomorrow

I have got tons of anenome bulbs to plant. I'm not sure if they will do anything in my incredibly dry shade but I'll give them a whirl. #

Actually is there anything interesting that grows in dry shade??

I've still not dealt with the evil passion flower (as it is now known - have always thought the flowers look a bit scary) - I'm working up to it. I've bought some gel glyphosate which I'm hoping that I can dot on the leaves of the annoying acanthus which is all-pervasive in my garden.

Sorry, that's not a terribly positive post

I'm horrified that anyone would want to kill passionflower or acanthus :ock outrage:: When I was on an earlier William Morris design theme I planted acanthus.

My stock things for dry shade - foxglove and lily of the valley - are very unoriginal. What does the RHS suggest? I'm on my phone so can't search so easily.