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.

That was mock outrage. Blimmin' phone.

I was thinking of planting a passionflower!

But I think this is the triffid passionflower that is growing out of the drain and survived the flamethrower .... Or was that some other noxious weed?

Yes, it is the triffid passionflower that is growing out of the drain! And the acanthus grows from tiny bits of root left in the soil.

Until late 2010 I gardened in London in very heavy clay soil. I now live on the south coast and just enough inland for the soil to be really fabulous. It's free-draining, slightly acidic (chalk) and seems to encourage ever manner of plant to grow. So in some senses, it's wonderful - I've never had verbena bonariensis self-sow before and now I'm having to dig it up. I've got loads of macleaya cordata which has laid runners under the soil (if anyone wants one, please PM me) and I can scatter seeds and they take beautifully.

But stuff that I don't want also grows. I've not quite got the hang of it yet!

hmmm, I have an acanthus. it is not very large at all. I wonder whether the clay soil is slowing it down? I could move it to the front garden.

I am "working at home" today... presently sitting in my back room looking at the lovely bright colours of a dewy damp sunny spring morning. ... cup of tea and then must get set up at the table to work properly.

Ooh, I used to have macleaya cordata but it just vanished. Maybe it doesn't like the London clay that I grapple with on. Daily basis. Fab plant, though.

I've got some lovely Woodruff (Galium odoratum) - planted a small pot 8 or so years ago and it has graduall spread under the lilac at the back where its too shady for the helebores that self seed at the front.

Let's talk butts, people. Waterbutts. Here ther has just been a ten minute rain shower and I had earlier put a standard bucket beneath the pipe which should have my larger butt attached to the end of it. The bucket is full. The roof is 3m by 4m. The butt is full from a few days ago when there was a whole day of rain. I can't lift up and reconnect the butt until I have distributed some of the water. The smaller butt is going to be fitted beside Shed 2, and I'm wondering now about whether to fill it from both shed roofs or just one, and how to deal with excess water (hollow laugh). Here are my options:

1. Guttering on the front eave of Shed2, flexible downpipe straight into butt. No overflow plan.
2. Guttering on both shed front eaves, flexible downpipes both going into butt. No overflow plan.
3. As option 1, plus Shed1 flexible downpipe routed to recharge pond, but when there is rain this is paradoxically less needed.
4. As option 2 but putting a dripper pipe from butt tap onto veggie beds, switched on once butt full and dry spell established (may consider same from large butt to ornamental beds) but this doesn't actually handle oversupply either.

My problem really is that I have enough roof to collect enough water to get through dry spells, but not enough vessels to store it so how do I make use of the overflow? There is really not a spare square foot to daisy-chain multiple waterbutts.

Well, at the risk of talking to myself (twitch, twitch) I have decanted the whole of the 200+ butt into the 100 and onto a bed that is being warmed up (with polythene) for imminent planting. The 100 won't have a gutter and downpipe into it for a couple of weeks probably but works as storage. The 200+ is now reconnected.

The Shed2 roof area that will feed the 100 litre butt is 2x1.5m, ie 3 sq m. Using this rainfall calculator, the butt will be full after about 30mm of rainfall. (after only half that, if I link up the other shed too!!) Average rainfall for the months from April to September here range about 10mm either side of 50mm so I would need to empty it about twice a month to not let it overflow when the next significant rainfall comes. Overflow means waste, but overwatering just to use it up before it's about to rain a lot is also poor management. Aaagggh!!

Err, Lexi, just what you said about waterbutts

I cannot face a discussion about waterbutts, given that mine has been a failure. I'm going to have to tweak it when I get home.

My next little project is to find something to act as a dipping tank for the water coming off the shed roof. The down pipe currently just sends the water into the flowerbed, which seems inefficient (and will create a bog on heavy rain). I balked at paying £40 for a tin bath on EBay. What else could I use? A bucket won't really do the job.

One of those heavy weight 'builders' buckets? The ones that are about 18" high and 12 " across and really heavy duty plastic?

I've got a plastic cattle trough (a relic of our old life) but that probably isn't much use to you. It's not pretty, but it does the job.

I've got builders' buckets but they 're still too small for the dipping. I'm going to have to try a reclamation yard for some sort of trough, I think.

My failed water butt needs something to plug the hole at the bottom that just won't seal. Then I can use that as a dipping butt (so to speak). Wine cork not quite big enough. Thinking I may have to crack a bottle of champagne...

Anyone else get the amazing hail today? HUGE hailstones - literally almost golf ball size. And we had to go out in it to save the veg plot roof - my removable roof is fine for snow forecasts but not for freak hail storms. DH and I got very wet redistributing foot deep collections of hail! Luckily the netting also protected us from a bruising.

Have just ordered this (with 9ft run). Saw some chickens today too. All very exciting.

Slug count was 9 today. Smart slug traps work quite nicely but didn't quite meet the challenge of 21.

Hello Ladies!

58 slugs in three traps!

Oooooh Monty!

It would be great if it was wouldn't it?

It would be fantastic - mind you, I'd be embarrased to have Monty see the state of my garden, but I'd love his advice

But surely you are the, ahem, full Monty, coming to us from your lovely garden in deepest Herefordshire?

Hmm, er, yes that's right.

Does this make me a troll?

you're on at a huge discount on thebookpeople, monty. I'm vair tempted.

cheap, one might say.