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 haven't disappeared again, just away for the weekend (in Seattle) with sporadic Internet access. :)
I didn't have time to plant my echinacaea before I left, but I am going to have decadence upon decadence - I'm taking Monday off while JB goes to preschool, and I plan to do some gardening then.
Aaaaaaahhhh... it's been such a nice day already, and more to look forward to :) :) :)

What else have you in your black and white bed?

The colours in my garden are mainly blue/purple and white with touches of pink. And green of course. And silver.

Except for the tulips which are red and yellow a bit like Maud's.

Lots of for everyone

Maud a black and white bed sounds amazing. I'm going to suggest it to MIL who has a borderline obsession with Art Deco and monochrome. What else have you got in it?

I planted various bulbs from Aldi / Poundland and yesterday I noticed some shoots poking up. I'm, ecstatic ! For some reason I've got a strange complex that makes me disbelieve that anything I sow will ever grow, and I'm always really surprised when they do! I suppose that's one of the thrills of gardening that keeps me hooked.

Maud I spend half my life pulling euphorbias out! Hate the damn thing and self sow like nothing on earth!

I try not to plant anything poisonous or irritant in the garden. Euphorbias for me are out, as they are irritant. What I loved, though, was the gardener's passion for his Euphorbias, and the different shapes , colours and varieties, and the connection to Monty Don's ancestor.

The blue butterfly was indeed a Holly Blue- we have Holly in the garden and loads of Ivy next door, both of which it needs. So pretty.

Near us is a front garden planted with black tulips interplanted with red tulips. It looks amazing because the black tulips set the red tulips off.

It's so wet here, I went out to check on what I've planted and it's all getting hammered. Two borlotti bean plants don't look like they'll survive and I was so proud of them (first time growing them).

I LOVED the candelabra primulas on GW last night, definitely going to get lots of those when I have my own garden. I hadn't heard of them before but they were so colourful. Every website I've read lists different times for when they flower; some have written April, some August, some late May/June. But apparently they like very wet soil.

Did manage some indoor gardening today though very limited as trying to avoid causing a mess. Planted some more sweetcorn seeds as very few of the first lot germinated. Potted on some courgette seedlings too. I found some tiny little pots (no taller than 6cm) in the shed so the girls have planted them up for a living garden to go with a cardboard box house they've been constructing. They are planted with mustard, cress, radish, beetroot and spring onions (for trees) and now have pride of place on the very narrow kitchen windowsill.

Mostly though today we have been out in the garden getting wet talking to the newly installed chickens. And we've had our first egg!

I used to avoid all poisonous and irritant plants and grubbed out all the euphorbias before dd was were born. The aconitum went even before that, after I heard a horrifying story about a friend's pet who nibbled its leaves and died before it could be got to the vets. But now dd is older I'm willing to replant euphorbias. The on thing I'll never plant again is rue because it gave me awful photochemical burns.

I was going to just do a lists of my B&W plants, but while MN was dead I added pics. So here - as far as memory allows - it is

Aquilegia Black Barlow

Aquilegia William Guiness

Astrantia ? unknown (white) variety

Galium odoratum

Rosa Winchester Cathedral

Rodgersia pinnata

White campanula

Black hemerocallis

Lilium regale

Lilium Ebony

Lilium Eyeliner

Filipendula ulmaria

Veronicastrum (although not sure if it?s this one)

Ophiopogon nigrescens

geranium phaeum

Sedum Purple Emperor (flowers will be ruthlessly removed0

Euphorbia amygdaloides purpurea

Black hollyhocks

White agapanthus

White viola

Aquilegia Blackberry Ice

Anonymous white climbing rose on fence behind

Obviously, it relies on the fact that most black plants are in fact purple. I'm going to introduce a bit of steel blue, with cerinthe major purpurascens (which looked fantastic in this bed last year, as it set off both the black and the white) and eryngium planum.

Next year, I'm going to use pots of black and white tulips (separately, not mixed) to fill gaps.

Worzelswife - Where do you live? They have fabulous candelabra primulas at RHS Harlow Carr, if that's within striking distance for you.

I would love to see your black and white bed Maud.

(There is a statement with the capacity for misinterpretation ).

Is it incredibly windy with any of you tonight? It is blowing a serious gale here in South Wales. I have just been out to check the plastic greenhouse thingy hasn't blown over.

Haven't seen Gardener's World yet, that is pleasure yet to come.

Humph - If it all comes together this year, I will post a picture of my black and white bed on my profile.

::Ooh matron emoticon::

Yes, getting increasingly windy here.

I might watch Monty now. He gave dh and me a surprise last night when (in book form) he fell off the bed in the early hours of the morning.

I am really looking forward to it. I am sure it will come together!

which book fell off the bed?

I want to get the new one for DH. He is reading a history of gardens at the moment. We both love The Ivington Diaries, that was the book that really shaped our ideas about what sort of garden we wanted, or what was even possible, considering that we had never owned a garden before.

Urban Jungle. I was rereading it because I'm about to charity shop it.

The previous night Ezra Pound fell off the bed.

how erudite

I am reading Game of Thrones and A Town Like Alice. Also In Defence Of Food (v good).

That was dh's tome. I'm reading Middlemarch reluctantly and mostly Gardeners' World magazine. I enjoyed ATLA when I read it as a mere slip of a girl.

Aha. Now realise that GW actually went to Harlow Carr to see the candelabra primulas. I must have psychic gifts.

Arghhh Maud just the mention of 'MM' sends shivers down my spine...had to write a particularly in depth and ridiculous essay on in Uni. GW magazine is far more acceptable though!

Humph I'm a SWalian too! Whereabouts are you? It's blowing a gale isn't it? The wind whipped my plastic greenhouse to one side and my lettuces fell out. I hope they'll be okay, but I have back ups on the porch windwsill so not too stressed.

I am between Abergavenny and Monmouth - anywhere near you?

It is FOUL here today. I fear for my apple crop, the blossom is being severely battered

I have this morning rescued the plastic greenhouse - not too much damage caused although I do now have some flat spring onions. Lots of branches down too and it's not letting up yet out there. Going to have to brave it later though as some things cannot be put off any more.

Foul here too. My plastic greenhouse is tethered to a downpipe, so they'll all go together when they go.

Hmmm, no unusual levels of wind here (s Watford) but the met office page for my location says at 1300 there could be 32mph gusts. The back garden is very sheltered though, more so now the trees in the wood have some leaves on them, so I think it won't be as bad as when my Heath Robinson broad bean protection blew off in the winter (polythene clothespegged over a web of plant stakes!). Tulips are getting a battering (the ones that are open anyway).

I went to pick up my gumtree plant pots last night and couldn't only give him £8, there were loads! I gave him a nice round ten. Haven't counted, but there are three terracotta pots abut 8inch diameter for a start - worth the ten just for those. The rest are quite small, odd shapes, and some are indoors plant pot holders really. There is a herb pot with those vents on the sides all painted up with names of what you should grow on your kitchen windowsill.

On the wildlife front, I saw a new bird in my garden yesterday and I have half an idea that it was a goldcrest. It was wren-bluetit sized, mostly brown but had a distinctive stripe across its wing when still, some pattern on its head which it didn't stay still long enough for me to see properly, and it was picking up lots of grubs from my climbers. Came really close to the patio windows. Hoping it'll come back so I can confirm.

Right. Better get my big girl pants on and brave the elements. If I distribute some crap that's in an old bin, I could use it as another water butt, a manual-decanting one. can't get through a post in the gardening section without mentioning my bloody waterbutts!!!

Not too far Humph: Swansea.

Despite the weather I'm itching to get gardening today! Really frustrating. I could do a bit of indoor sowing and potting on, but the thought of retrieving compost from Out There is putting me off.

On a positive note, brought my Gardener's Delight toms into the kitchen from the mud room yesterday on a last ditch attempt to get them to germinate. Didn't hold out much hope as it's been over a fortnight, but just looked and I've got a couple of sprouters! Hoorah!

I'm worried about the bees though (I don't keep any, I just mean the bees in general). They can't fly when it's pouring down, and they'll get hungry if this goes on much longer. There were a couple on Friday getting a desperate fill from my blueberry plants between showers.

Also, some spiders have totally missed the point of welly storage bags and have found their way in because it's nice and dry. Well, ok, dry is part of the point but NO SPIDERS IN WELLIES is the other important intention.

Yeah. Wildlife hypocrite. I know.

I went out. Lasted about an hour and a half. I came in when I realised that the only dry bit of me was my feet. Undressed straight into the washing machine.

Now the sun is shining.

I did sow parsnips, last of the peas, and first of the fennel though. Also planted out the sweet peas to grow up the veg plot arch and some borage to grow by my beans. Both to attract the bees in ( if the haven't all drowned or starved). Still got loads more that needs doing but I'm done for today!

dry and some blue sky here... can I be arsed doing any seed planting though... hmm maybe if I had a in hand and some promised...!