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.

Do you know, that had not even occurred to me! Good thought.

We have a willow igloo from some stuff that we got from a friend. An arbour thing would be doable with the amount of stuff we have.

Or what about making a wattle or something, if you need a screen somewhere?

Following on from yesterday's chicken saga: today we had a breakout. Sun came out this afternoon so kids & I sauntered out into the garden. The chooks usually run to meet us, but no sign of them. I got the corn dispenser and shook it which usually has them running - still no chickens, so I frantically checked all of their usual haunts but with no luck. Just ran up to get FIL to watch the kids while I searched the lane, when all three come comically hobbling around the corner.

Wire mesh has now been attached to fence, and erection of pen has been brought forward to this weekend.

Update on the veg bed: x1 rhubarb, x8 sweetcorn, one row of lettuce and one of rocket and x6 strawberry plants have now been planted!

I have a new chicken that my brother bought for me. It is really tame and follows you around the orchard, and lets the children stroke it .

Turned out a nice day after the rain this morning here. Got more seeds planted this evening in containers. Dill, rocket, radish, beetroot, spring onion ('Furio' which is red tinged), and some more 30 day salads. As a result of my dad coming by yesterday with the car for once, I now have two more massive terracotta pots available to me because he took away the dwarf pines which were growing out of in them. For the arboretum, don't you know...

I have noticed that we are nearly at the end of the thread already. Clearly there is a sizeable caucus of gardeners on mumsnet and I wonder whether we could put a bid in for a "mumsnet product test" of a proper gardening type of thing. I don't mean like the (Dolmio?) tomato seeds thing they did last year, but maybe a trial of good quality children's tools, or a range of seeds, or something. Would that appeal to anyone else? And do anyone know what should I do about it - report this post to HQ or start something in the product tests topic?

We could mumsnet product test chickens, I suppose. arf arf

I am sorry about your willow Humphrey.

Sorry weebles but I laughed again at your chickens, what characters! I wanted chucks at the new house, now that we have a decent sized garden. I even got specific permission from the builder as there was a clause in the contract about anything other than 'domestic pets' being kept on the land. DH is somewhat less enthusiastic than initial indications suggested, so I am sulking a touch. Patience is key with DH, I do not give up hope yet, I will go for the 'drip, drip' approach to erode his resistance.

I planted a row of rocket approx. 10 days ago, just before the deluge. I half thought I would lose the seeds but there's definite germinations from this row (my beets, spring onion and lettuce rows haven't shown signs of life yet).

The strawberries that I planted from seed are definitely growing, but are still small and so remain indoors. I really want to start moving my indoor stuff at least into the greenhouse but, apart from yesterday when I put them all outside on the patio during the day, it seems too cold. Good stuff that yours are big enough to plant out.

Nearly at the end of the thread Lexi? Sorry I am new to MN too!

Planning watching GW previous episodes on the I Player later when the kids are in bed. Also now subscribed to GW and GYO. It used to be Runners World and Running Fitness, how times change!

Tip toeing into the veggie scene here.......today I bought some tomato plants v cheap from Tesco!! I kid you not they were by the cash till and looked unwatered so I brought them home to rescue. £2.00 for 6 little plants.

We could test a) gardening gloves b) gardening tools c) seeds of new and unusual varieties of flowers and veg c) butterfly kits d) wigwams e) chicken houses and........oh Lexi .......e) sheds

and solar powered greenhouses in dome shapes

Oh right so we're back on the shed piss taking are we, hmmmmm????

doublemocha when a thread gets to 1000 posts it is 'full' except when it's important or in Classics or something. So you have to start a new thread and hope that all your mates find it carry on there. Some of us of this thread were chatting last year in "my garden makes me so happy" then we had a second thread called Humph's happy horti-cult and now here we are in Come to Maud.

But if I had the space I want that geodesic dome greenhouse that designer in Clapham had in the Joe Swift section of last week's GW. Want want want.

I still have no salad or sugar snap peas in the ground. I have never been this late with things before, but then I didn't have a job before either.

I also want a greenhouse big enough to do potting up in. This is not likely to ever happen. But a girl can dream...

Ahem. This thread is called Come into the garden with Maud.

I plan to go and see that garden and its lovely geodesic shed dome.

Kimmi - a tip to reduce weeding requirement is to plant through weed membrane. I use it on my pumpkin patch and grow my squashes, courgettes, pumpkins & sweetcorn through it. No weeding needed; it's my favourite bit of the veg patch .

Doublemocha - keep gently nudging your DH about the chickens. It took me two years of 'nudging' - and my DH said he'd rather have a third child than have chickens so I was up against it. I overheard DH call one of them 'sweetheart' on day two so he's definitely succumbed to their charms! The new ladies are settling in well and I'm training them to come for treats so that I can let them roam with some hope of getting them back in when needed.

Need to get my beans started off sometime soon - I can't believe it's May already.

I have further worries about my zinnia and tithonia seedlings. Not only are they leggy, they're now drooping.

humprey I do indeed know all about willow structures, I make em for schools and all that. Maybe PM me if you want advice because I don't keep up with this thread enough.
I'll check back here too though.

So are my purple sprouting broccoli and dwarf curly kale, Maud. I don't know whether to pot them on a little deeper, perhaps.

Yes, I've been looking for advice online on whether the potting-them-deeper thang is good only for tomatoes or can be applied more widely.

I do hope Humph will have a willow structure. Unlike those of us with pocket handkerchief gardens she has space for it and I'll be able to charge more for the charabanc tours if she adds even more attractions to her garden.

I potted my borage on a little deeper as it was very floppy. Seems fine after about 2 weeks of being slightly buried. I should think brasiccas would be fine potted on deeper Lexi as you're supposed to plant them out deeper later on anyway.

Thanks for all your advice, I had thought about covering some of it up, but Ive never had a garden before and I want to do everything NOW!! it will be my first baby, and I know my whole world will be upside down, so want to be realistic but I just want to spend all my time there and grow things!! (my sister claims I never mention my pregnancy any more when I phone, it's just allotment talk!!)

I like the idea of perenial veg, so will definately look into that, thanks lexi

I've inherited a couple of strawberry plots which have flowered so I am hopeful they will produce some strawberries, I just need to tidy them up a bit and get some straw!

I had a good allotment chat at toddlers yesterday & most of my Facebook pics are the garden and allotment

I just knocked my poor little viscaria seedlings off the shelf in the potting shed
I've pivked them up and repotted them so I hope they'll be alright, the stupid thing is I was moving them so they wouldn't get knocked by the cat who has taken to sleeping in there.

Has anyone grown scented stock from seed? I've tried three times this year and had no germination at all.

I grew scented stock a few years ago - 'twas lovely indeed. I've never had difficulty either with parsley, which is supposed to be difficult to grow, and yet other allegedly easy things defeat me. Ho hum.