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've come in for lunch and it's only bloody stopped raining!!

Its too wet here to garden today[and cold].So i have had a lovely morning compiling my wishlist of plants on the crocus websit[e when i should be doing other things like filling in forms and ordering paint].Crocus have really expanded their list of plants for dry sun and dry shade.So far i'm up to over 200 pounds[to add to the not inconsiderable amount i've already spent on plants this month].I really love the Crocus website -its so easy to use and the pictures are great [but the packaging is still rubbish].

CuttedUpPear Not sure if you saw my message on the last page, but I've just taken the plunge and ordered Lavender Hidcote on Special Offer @ £1.95 each from lavenderworld.co.uk Free P&P and also Free Lavender Bath Oil on orders over £30

My order is being delivered early next week so I'm happy to give feedback / post photo's.

Rainy days are expensive. I've just been out in the car and spanked over £30 on compost, horti grit, cat repellent gel, tool hooks and "alpine" perennials (saxifrage, ajuga, sedum and cowslip).

It is hoofing it down still and I don't think I'll go out again now, except maybe to get in the compost and grit bags, so i can put seed potatoes in the bags I prepared and put some more compost on top.

Re lavenders, I got twelve from JParkers at a reasonable price, and they are all growing (not rapidly but I mean they're not duds!).

£8.99 for 12 and they say 35cm growth per year?!?

Hi Dawnywoo I have had a look at those online lavenders but unfortunately they only are in 9cm pots or 'jumbo' plugs. I need 1.5litre pots at least as it's for a client who wants large plants. I've been told by the importers that they won't be available until June.

Hi CuttedUpPear I have visited Lavenderworld in Yorkshire and they grow their own lavender rather than import it. They have an offer on 1.5 litre Hidcote (2 for £10) but I notice they are out of stock. May be worth keeping an eye on their website or giving them a call.

Thanks, I will give them a call.

Nationwide shortage of Lavandula Hidcote! Panic buy now!

Gardeners World are giving away Hidcote plug plants as part of their latest reader offer, but that won't help CuttedUpPear.

I would love to grow ricinus but am scared. I don't mind poisonous plants normally but just not quite sure on that one...

Weather is hideous. I've done nothing this week but make long lists of things to do. Chicken coop arrived yesterday as well and we've not managed to put it together yet as it's just too wet.

Still, all the seedlings in the conservatory are doing very nicely but some would really appreciate being planted on now.

CuttedUpPear - have you tried Ebay?

£8 for 12 Hidcote lavender plants sounds amazing.....but the only thing I am going to spend on the garden now is time. I need to plant in all the plants and weed out the nettles and catmint and brambles.

The lawn is squelchy at the moment so I daren't garden. Even the path stones I put down (fossil buff sandstone) are sinking into the mud that is supposed to be lawn. I was thinking of taking them up again as they are very bright against the soothing green, and look very man made in the midst of the ...er...natural haven.... but they are useful for not getting muddy shoes and save the grass.

When you all plant your dahlia tubers do you put a frame of sorts round at the same time so as to support the plants? I still have loads of Taylors free dahlias to put in and am thinking of planting them in the South facing front bed.

My seedlings are all getting too leggy. I suppose I should pot them on but I don't like doing messy gardening jobs inside and the weather's still atrocious.

I thought I was comfortable with the ricinus now that dd is old enough to be trusted not to eat it, but now you're making me wobble.

According to the 2007 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, this plant is the most poisonous in the world. Despite this, suicides involving ingestion of castor beans are unheard of in countries like India where castor grows abundantly on the roadsides.

wikipedia quote.

It has been raining solidly and I do not have a water butt.

Yes, I knew all that but now I'm getting irrationally worried about it. I might give the plants away.

Funnyperson, that (not having a water butt) would drive me bananas. It's bad enough having one but not being able to use the water anywhere to create capacity to store all this rain!! I bet that before the end of May, I'll exhaust the supply. The should be two days of heavy rain every two weeks and then go just hot and dry enough to needed the water to be used on the veg plot. oh and it should rain when I'm at work.

Havin a glorious sunny interlude right now. I've been out test driving cars this morning so am a bit weary and want to slump on the sofa ... But I have potting to do!!!

Well, less than 24 hrs after ordering, I've just taken delivery of a box of goodies from Lavenderworld. That was with free P&P too! Gorgeous healthy plants - I can highly recommend.

It's put a smile on my face I can tell you - the smell when I opened the box alone had me swooning. The joys and theraputic nature of plants eh?

I don't work for them by the way

I've been tidying the greenhouses and potting on. I'm now up to 18 tomato plants ( up to two of each variety). Only buying rarer ones now....

Hello everyone!
So, question: what do I do with my spring bulbs that I planted in pots this year, once they've all bloomed off? Do I dig them up and freeze them and replant in the fall? Just cut off all the green and store them until fall? If yes, how - water them or not, dark or light storage, what kind of temperature?

My MIL gave me five gorgeous echinacaea plants for my birthday - can't wait to plant them. They're hot pink in the centre and lime green at the tips of the flowers. Called "Green Envy". :) :) :)

::Clasps Jacksmania to her compost-encrusted bosom::

Depends on what the bulbs are, I think. I generally just keep them in the pots and put them somewhere out of the way for the summer. I cut off the flowers, give them a good feed but stop watering them once the foliage dies down. The only real problem is with tulips, which are fussier than most other things. The advice in the UK is to lift them and dry them, but when I did that I got even worse results than when I left them in the pots. Part of the problem, I think, is that in this rain-soaked country it's hard to give them the summer baking they need. Boo.

The echinacea sound wonderful!

We have the same kind of rainy climate here. In fact, when I looked out this morning, I was convinced it is going to rain forever and never stop again.

I have crocuses, hyacinths and tulips.
The tulip planter is huge and I would love to use it for annuals. Maybe I'll try to dig everything up and store it for the summer. I wonder if baking them in the oven at super-low would work?

I've done all my important potting on, and a bit of planting out. I've lost a couple of my Yellow Stuffer tomato seedlings and probably a Coquina squash. But I have a really strong Moneymaker and three Gardener's Delights.

I've also moved on some lupin seedlings, Bertha's borage, and gazania sown from seed collected off last year's flowers. I think they were F1s though so goodness knows what they'll end up like.

Potatoes are all earthed up. No soil or gravel moved, but it's far too wet. Is there any point spraying weeds with glyphosate if it's going to rain? Will it wash off?

Try it, Jacksmania, and report back on how it goes! You're trying to reproduce the baking they would get in the wild on the slopes in Turkey and Iran.

::tulipmaniac::

No point glyphosating unless you stuff the leaves into a plastic bag, as otherwise it'll wash off too quickly.

When Monty said you should plant seedlings more deeply as you pot them on, was he talking only of tomatoes or other things too? My zinnias and tithonias are very spindly, so that might help make less puny plants.

Jacksmania - Do you get lovely Monty in Canada?