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...

I shall be very careful when I plant my new roses that I don't go too shallow. Suspect I have in the past. Good to know they do ok if you dig them up though. My Dad was told a man in the Cadbury Garden Center that roses love well rotted manure. He nagged me to ask my neighbour and before I knew it we were all in a field having a manure party. This consisted of me fighting off Pimms as was a bit early, the DC's shovelling manure and DH wheelbarrowing it miles to the car. It was well rotted though, I reckon the pile was probably stated in the last Millenium !

Apparently my Dad's roses loved it. He wants more but the DC's get a bit touchy when I mention the M word and DH vanishes.

Daphne is a shrub I think ? And couch grass is evil, I have it on my allotment.

Couch grass is endemic on our allotment site. It's worse than ground elder, I feel.

You won't kill the couch grass on a compost heap, rhihaf... I would Brown Bin or burn that.

Just finished watching Monty's french garden programme. Possibly one of the great classic programmes of all time.
My garden is just a back garden, in a constant state of existentialist becoming rather than being. Yet it is true that I watch the play of light- mostly to observe that yet again I have failed to plant where the sun falls most.
But it made me think. Especially about how it is not always what plants or how many plants, but the way in which they are planted which makes a great garden. Perhaps I should think of a unifying concept or idea for my garden, then the rest will come together.

I think my unifying concept would be 'Sisyphus meets the Somme'.

Caught the second half of Monty last night. Great programme.

The tulips in the planters on my pew are finally starting to show. I have purple sprouting broccoli coming and my kale isn't far off being pickable.

my unifying concept / theme is cottage garden I adore the old favourites and their names! bleeding hearts, grannies bonnets, lady in the bath etc ... cottage garden is a great excuse to be a bit lazy ...I had a busy job and now a new baby ... but I also didn't like imposing myself too much on the plants but to let them do their own thing and surprise me. Been very into gardening since buying my house 7 years ago (Victorian terrace with long thin back garden). I soon discovered it was hard to control the garden hp would die off where I planted them which was depressing but then I would notice they had seeded and popped up in some other spot.
I have sort of tried to have colour themes that the border goes from blues and whites to hot orange and red ... but never mastered seasonal planting...garden always full but the colours or effects I wanted wouldn't happen as flowers would come up late etc.
I am starting to get very excited at the thought of this year as I am off on maternity leave I expect to be out a lot. No new beds (well maybe one small one) this year but hope I can keep on top of it a bit more in mid summer ... though its on a tight budget!!

Monty can be watched on iplayer. Sisyphus meets the Somme? Boulders and trenches? Deceit, greed and destruction?
I'm off sick.
I can't think of a unifying concept but elements would be butterflies, birds, a woodland clearing, repose, contemplation, reflection, friendship, muted colours, light, growth. Though how any garden is predictable enough to be able to reflect a concept is beyond me. Perhaps patchy chaos better describes it.

Sisyphus meets the Somme describes mine at the moment, too. My labours at the weekend achieved a lot, but churned up the lawn.

Welcome, Contradiction. I love cottage garden plants too. My garden has become more cottagey as it has gone on, because those are the plants that seem to do best.

Been thinking about the unifying concept thing. I have decided that I have concepts but nothing to unify them. Chaos theory anyone?

I think one of my clematis in a pot on the patio may get moved to the new arbour as it has survived longer than clematis normally do in my garden. It's a blue one but can't recall the name. Will have to see if I still have the label in my box of labels. Still unsure what to team it with though. I have a baby jasmine in a pot too that might work but not convinced of its hardiness yet.

Going to try and make wooden planters when I construct the square gravelled bit for the arbour as they cost loads and making them would be considerably cheaper. Could be interesting...

The arbour is lovely Bertha.

Am loving Sisyphus meets the Somme

Heaven knows what the unifying concept of our garden is!

DH has been out all day trying to sort out the ground for the hornbeam hedge. He has help but he still looks knackered, poor thing.

The arbour is really really pretty. Clematis are nice. How about Jasmine, honeysuckle, a rose and some sort of fruit so that you can sit and pick some?

The unifying concept thing is also about shape. I can never decide whether to have a rectangular or curvy lawn, rectangular or curvy paths, trellis etc. Last year was a mixture wich didn't really do anything. This year I think I'm going for rectangular lawn, straight path, rectangular trellis. The plants will provide curve and flow.

I need ideas for plants at the back/middle of borders, I have now got rampant climbers, and I'm happy with the smaller plants at the front, but there are significant gaps between the climbers and the front if you see what I mean. I like perennials, am thinking of plants which might be flowy in the breeze, circular bush shape, greens, creams, blues, burgundy, attractive to butterflies. I will try astrantia again. Any other thoughts ?

I wish to report that my sweet peas have germinated. For. The. First. Time. In. My. Life.

Wooooo! Sweet pea party round funny's!!!!

Yay, sweet peas! Planning to get mine started this week.

I have today dug out the corner bed in preparation for the arbour going in. I have put the lupin and a couple of other things in pots, some bulbs and another small plant went in the long bed. The things now in pots will probably end up in there too at some stage but need to see where the spaces are when things spring back into life in a month or two. I did dig up what I think is an agapanthus; I had two in there but they didn't do anything after the first year so I assumed they'd died. However, these roots look promising so I've potted it and will see if it does anything. Fingers crossed that a) it survives, and b) it is actually an agapanthus!

Also got two more chickens today

Come on over !

Bertha what will you put at the back of the arbour?

It's going against the fence in a corner. We have a fence that divides the front and back garden but is only a 5ft fence so the top half of it will be visible from the drive. I'm planning to put a planter at each side and hopefully grow whatever I eventually choose to grow over the top.

I've put a photo on my profile of something I have 'discovered' just over our fence. Cleared the moss off it last week and now trying to persuade DH to see if it can be moved. I'd like to put it in front of the arbour and use it as a feature. I'm not sure how practical it is going to be to try and move it though...however beautiful it is.

welldone funny! I have germinated a few times but.not got much further think over watering not aclimatising slow enough and slugs have done for mine in the past. trying to be organic and pesticide free isn't easy when you have cats that scare off birds and toads!

contradiction you are right. There is bound to be damping off and slug fodder.
Still, atm they are botanical specimens of the finest order, and with the T and M label saying 'purple sweetly scented sicilian' with a pretty photo, gardener's optimism is currently prevailing.

Inspired by funnyperson, I have been to Great Dixter today. Even in a snow flurry, it was gorgeous. Zillions of snowdrops and hellebores and lots of fresh green shoots. We noticed a campsite nearby, so now I'm planning a return visit in the summer, when it will be transformed.

I had so many plans for this week but it has been too, too cold! I have however dug up the remaining Jerusalem artichokes and replanted the patch (JAs in the post for those who wanted them) and I have made my pallet vertical strawberry planter & planted it up with baby strawberry plants. I haven't managed to get any seeds going as I've not been able to face the garden in the temperatures of the last two days. Instead I have been huddling by the fire glaring at the snow flurries through the window.

I am envious of you going to Gt Dixter!. I didn't make it for the weekend I was thinking of and thought it was closed till March. Maybe I'll go on my day off.

I am propagating succulents indoors for some reason this weekend, having borrowed a library book called 'Teeny Tiny Gardens'. My ability to procrastinate with endless amusing unintellectual activities never ceases to amaze me.

I should have been doing some very serious filing.

Do go if you can, funnyperson. Even at this time of year it's lovely.

I envy you your succulents. My aeonium Schwarzkopf got left out during the coldest weather and have been reduced to mush. ::sad face:: I don't envy you your filing. I am years behind with mine and need a new filing cabinet.

Yipping like loon that's it raining at last. Not just one day, but steady downpours for about 4 days. The initial drenching provoked 93% humidity and the first mozzie bite of the summer, which made me remark to a colleague we could have been in Brisbane. The riposte was: thankfully we're not. Melburnians are sooo snooty.:o

Loovely for the garden, but the weeds will be up mob-handed at the first sign of sun, having been flattened by weeks of unrelenting sun. Bastards.