The first rule of garden club is...!?!

[Lexilicious]

hoping Humph's Happy Osteospermumsnet chums will find this... la la la... I'm uite used to being betty no mates though...

Come on in and have a seat/kneeler/foam pad and a virtual , anyone who wants to idly chat about what they've been dreaming of planting, actually planting, buying without a care for having a place for it, propagating, harvesting, hacking and chopping...

So are mine

Really, Bertha? That's almost a comfort, in that I know the Fates of Gardening have not singled me out.

Bad luck. I can't be too smug, I have lost almost all my French bean plants to the horrid slugs, and at the moment it looks like my entire harvest will consist of one solitary bean.

Fortunately my lemon plant has cheered up with the sunny weather recently and sprouted lots of new leaves. I nearly killed it a couple of months ago by accidental over-feeding - every single leaf curled up and fell off - so this is a massive relief.

well mine never really recovered from the fact that I forgot to water them when the hot weather (you remember the week of summer we had?) came. And the slugs have eaten a lot of the tomatoes that have grown.

Last year I planted them in massive tubs with half compost and half well rotten cow manure. It worked really well. I will do that again next year.

The slugs have really taken advantage of my absence on holiday. Some, I swear, have been taking steroids and pumping iron, as they are absolutely huge.

What do you do with your lemon tree in winter, MooncupGoddess? I don't have a conservatory and have been tempted by those which can allegedly withstand winter outside, but am a bit nervous.

I have one more yellow tomato nearly ripe and a few healthy trusses on 'moneymaker'. just flowers (a huge mass of them) on 'gardeners delight'.

Do caterpillars eat carrot seedlings? I am bemused that nothing in the rows I sowed in late July has emerged.

Lexi! May I ask you a question in your capacity of Thyme Lord? The thyme that I put in a wall pot it didn't get too wet on my clay soil got do dry while I was away that it looks shrivelled and pretty much dead. Does thyme ever come back from the brink or should I accept that it's had it?

Oh and any recommendation for which carrot to sow now? I usually do Parmex to avoid forking but will that be happy?

No idea re carrots! I sowed autumn king 2, chantenay red cored, cosmic purple and a heritage rainbow mix. only the chantenay have sprouted.

The regenerative capacity of your dried out thyme is going to depend on its age I think. If a young plant, no chance, if old and you planted it deep so not too much of its woody stems are above soil level, and cut back the stems so it isn't trying to support too much growth, maybe could be ok. But I'm more of a greedy indiscriminate collector than an expert really, so ultimately I would say just give it some leaf mould and a bit of water (not a great shocking drench) and leave it to see. Good luck!

I noticed this morning that some cosmos seeds I put on the rockery are coming up. Along with many many weeds...

Anyone have recommendations of veggie mesh and hoop arrangements (allotmenteers!) either in the sales or DIY?

Ps 'Thyme Lord' - love it!!

I have a conservatory, Maud, where my lemon plant lives all year round - but I think a sunny windowsill or even a very sheltered south-facing corner of the garden/porch would do.

Thyme is pretty resilient in my experience, I hope it comes back to life.

Am in exotic country. Frangipani and bougainvilla trees in flower and canna lilies and lots of others I have no idea about.
Waterer of plants left conveniently in front verandah has spotted chilli and olive plants but not the tomatoes. This does not bode well.

I smell of comfrey liquid feed - not pleasant! I diluted it this afternoon from the festering mass in the bottom of a bucket to four watering cans. It hums to high heaven, and now so do I. I couldn't leave it sitting around so have watered lots of things with it. Everything but the tomatoes actually.

I've just eaten fresh from the plant my first ripe yellow cherry tomato... There are many more on the cusp of ripening and the other bush varieties won't be long.... and the runner beans/courgettes/marrows are doing so well... sods law that I go on holiday tomorrow

I know it should really be Thyme Lady, Lexi, but then it wouldn't be such a good joke. To the extent that it is. I'll try to revive my dead plant.

That sounds lovely, Funnyperson. I love bougainvillea.

::Wills her tomatoes to (a) form and (b) ripen::

Hello everyone! I've been away & my garden has gone wild. I hacked at my squash plants which were taking over & they seem to be surviving despite having lost about 1/3 of each plant. I'm not sure what they are though - Acorn squash or possibly Pumpkins? They're very dark green. It's odd because I was sure we only had cucumber seeds.

Butterflies had laid on my brassicas too. How do you prevent that? I collected millions of caterpillars and thre them in the chook house - the girls had a feast!

I had radishes that looked ready to harvest but were too woody to eat but the first crop of blueberries were wonderful. I thought they weren't meant to produce in the first year but they've done really well. My tomatoes are only just beginning to flower. My sister has RED tomatoes on her plants - she lives just round the corner so I'm not sure what she's done to get that when mine are weeks behind.

If I had a spare £300, I'd go for a beautiful sculpture and/or a bench.

Hello Grockle. Welcome back!

There's a free blueberry offer with GW magazine this month. I think I will succumb.

I've done some pottering today. I planted up the microscopic wallflower plugs I bought from T&M. Yesterday, I decided to get rid of an unsatisfactory clump of hemerocallis and today I spotted a gorgeous one - a much better fit with the colour scheme - in the Crocus sale. Such temptation.

I also redid two window boxes and had a boak-worthy discovery, when I found a hen's egg at the bottom of one. It must have been buried by a squirrel. I know my neighbours leave out some gross stuff - nappies, food waste -t hat the foxes drag in, but who leaves out an egg?

Hi,i am also back from holiday.Meanwhile the garden has turned into a rampant jungle and everything needs chopping back.But i have my first beautiful Dahlias and sweet peas!.I was meandering round the garden at 6 am this morning enjoying the flowers[amongst the weed proliferation].But sadly i have no Lupin flowers as i have a major Aphid infestation again.The pots all look exhausted and need feeding [bit like me,apart from the feeding bit!]
Maud,Malaysia is a lovely destination for a holiday.Yes,it is very hot but is ideal swimming pool weather.There is a real of cultures and food in Malaysia and a really laid back feel to the country.We followed it up with a week in Hk where the pace of life is hectic and terribly efficient but at times a bit rude.

I've just been doing a bit of cutting-back - some gone-over astrantia and tatty hellebore foliage (which should have been done last year).

I may soon have my one and only sweet pea flower.

Thank you

I meant to buy some dahlias this morning at the Farmer's Market but I got distracted and forgot I almost got a hydrangea & had an interesting discussion with the growers who said that you can't have blue flowers on chalky soil - they're only blue if you have acidic soil (which I have)... this was news to me. I must read up on them. Do any of you have any gardening/ plant books you recommend?

We've tidied the garden today and tried to pull the old fronds off the palm tree - I hate it but everyone who visits loves it because it seems exotic but tbh, it's just a pain - not pretty and lots of mess to clear up. And of no use to the birds.

We had a fantastic trip to Sudley Castle Garden yesterday. It was beautiful. They had a white border. I am now sorely tempted, it looked really good. We could do in the front garden.

I am not that keep on palm trees either Grockle.

I'm laughing at Grockle's cucumber squashes ! I might have a couple of pumpkins, then again they might be another type of squash, I really can't remember ! Think Brassicas need netting really or you have to check thm dily o remove eggs. Planted my kale , cauli, etc and have not followed my own netting advice, bet the pigeons get them again.

Sweat pea flowers = 3 so far this year. My perennial ones have a few flowers on though. Blueberry harvest from 3 x4 year old plants is 0. We had to PYO at the blueberry farm instead. Flipping huge and juicy their berries are and it was from there I got my plants .

There's been aphid issues with my chillis so I ordered a ladybird family. 50 adults have arrived , waiting for the larvae. Still haven't been brave and actually eaten any of the Dorset Nagas. DH claims he is going to don a pair of Marigolds and make some sauce.

As my black and white border is solely while from about June onwards, I'd say go for it!

Ooh, maybe I will.

I have had a resurgence of interest in my garden in the last few days. I always seem to go off the boil in August. I don't know who said it first, but gardening jobs in late summer are like tidying up your house AFTER a party, but in spring and early summer it is like getting ready for a party. Much more inspiring. Still, it has come back with lots of discussions about greenhouses

Our winter golden squash, planted in a large cast iron boiler at the bottom of the crab apple walk has grown right up into the holly tree. It must be at least 12'.

Wynken, thats where I got my blueberry plants (after the plant sale) and mine have been good so far. Maybe it's just beginners luck.

My cucmber squash things seem to be getting rounder & turning orange so I have decided they are indeed pumpkins I don't think I realised how far the plants could grown. Maybe I'll plant next year's ones under the palm tree.

We made a mini water garden today. I've no idea if it will come to anything but it was fun to make & DS loves having a 'pond'. He's hoping our visiting frog might move in.