Rhubarb Appreciation Society

[Blackpuddingbertha]

Going with Rhihaf's thread name suggestion, following on from the first rule of gardening club is thread.

Pull up your kneeling pads, crack open the elderberry wine and the blackberry gin and come and join us. No real experience or gardening know-how needed.

rhihaf Yes thats the one. i love it and couldn't resist.

Thanks for the Funny. Funnily enough I just got an email this afternoon from the guy who bought our house, saying how much they are enjoying the garden! I guess they must be enjoying the surprise of things appearing and bursting into life. It was a real warm and fuzzy moment reading that. I couldn't help firing off an email back asking if the Echium pininanas survived the winter and if the tulips have put on a good display. I planted 150 tulip bulbs in the front garden there a couple of years ago after going berserk at the Bloms stand at Chelsea, so I'd be interested to know if they flowered again. They were sensational last year and made me decide that a splurge at Bloms like that is never a waste of money!

I nearly bought a plum (Reine Claude) tree in Lidl today, but I noticed that the graft was coming apart so put it back.

I don't much care for hydrangeas (although I have quercifolia) but Glamrock looks interesting. Perhaps I need one for my Venetian border?

How lovely to hear from your buyers, Rhubarb, especially as they appreciate your gardening efforts.

Maud pot is like this one

www.rsankey.com/decoration-products/Patio-Planters-Contemporary/Large-Moroccan/4740

it also comes in a smaller version
www.amazon.co.uk/Sankey-Medium-Moroccan-Pot-Terracina/dp/B0001NXKQM/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1367955524&sr=8-12&keywords=sankey+planters

I bought mine at a local garden centre and am very pleased with it.

Oh that's very nice, funnyperson, but I sense that it's too Mediterranean-looking for a Christmas tree. Would be marvellous planted with (say) a bronze phormium and something frothy for light relief.

Hm yes I see you like frothy, and its true the shape is wrong for a Christmas tree. There are other designs though, and B and Q have a reasonable selection of plainer terracotta look-alikes.

I love these:

www.boutsviolas.co.uk/index.asp

I really like that terracotta effect pot. It brings to mind the scent of Greek hillsides.

I am swooning over those violas.

funnyperson - I do like frothy, yes, but I also like bold and structural. I was thinking recently that if I had to start this garden again, I might go for modern urban courtyard. I still mourn the passing of the fatsia japonica.

I think I'm in love

Oh good. They have been my all t

All time favourite for a few years now.

They are scented, and mostly reliably perennial, but worth following the care instructions . They do great in a pot if your soil is dodgy for them.

I could find 100 uses for them!

You can get the odd few at garden centres these days but the specialist growers like this are the best for variety.

The are also known as species violas, I seem to remember. Warning: you wl never buy another blowsy pansy once you get hooked!

Rhubarb I promised you the dtails of the oakgrove plant sale. Well it starts next monday and runs until the 23rd and will be open between 10 am and 2pm. Prices £2.50 for a 6 pack. £2.00 for 4 and hanging baskets £12.50.

There is also the annual charity Plant Sale on Saturday and Sunday 11th and 12th May at Ferring country centre (just past worthing on the A259). They also have pony rides, small animal farm and a nature trail for the little ones.

two good places to get your bedding plants and support local charities at the same time.

Argh, wouldn't you know it - we go on holiday on Monday till 22nd! And we are away at a wedding this weekend. They sound great though, so if they are annual events I will definitely go next year.

Onefewernow - I never buy pansies (ugh) but love violas, especially the (almost) black ones. I started off by growing viola tricolor from seed in the first year I was making this garden. I really, desperately want to buy the viola I linked to for my black and white border, but am baulking at paying £7 for postage.

cantspel - We know Ferring and I'm a sucker for a charity plant sale. Do you know what times it will be open on Sunday?

Maud, I think it's excessive too. I definitely have seen a very few of them in garden centres, and also at events such as shows.

How did it go, growing from seed? I tried it once without much luck but I did once work with a lady whose plants self seeded heaps, so it may have been my soil at the time. Did you sow in trays?

Can I join your thread please? :)

We moved to our new house last October and are beginning to tackle the garden. It has been neglected for a good few years. There are 2 mature trees 1 is pear the other cooking apple and both are full of blossom, a small eating apple plus a Victoria plum planted by us earlier this year.

We had a very productive day yesterday mainly digging out the compost heap and planting my herb garden, but realise we've planted rhubarb at the wrong time of year and with no manure. Lots of good compost though. Do you wise mumsneters think it will be ok?

I'm planning to get a greenhouse at some point, but for now am really pleased with a £30 one from lidle. I have tomatoes, courgettes and peppers comming on nicely in it. I would like to do more but we are away for a week at the end of May and a friend will water the plants for me, but I don't want to leave her too much.

That's the oddest thing, onefewernow. I was very much a novice gardener and didn't really know what I was doing. I wanted the violas to line a bed alongside a path, so made a drill, sowed the seeds direct and got a fantastic germination rate and lots of beautiful little plants. When in later years I have sown in trays/modules (viola tricolor and other varieties), I have ended up with very few plants!

Hello Bumbez. Welcome.

I'm sure your rhubarb will be fine if it's had plenty of good compost.

Hello all. Very much joining in with the Viola love vibe. And I have to agree with the dislike of Pansies too. I just will not tolerate them. (funny isn't it? such similar plants, but totally different feelings evoked) I have had great success this year with Viola seeds I collected from my plants last autumn. Have sown them in pots then hardened off / planted outside and they are fair rampant I can tell you. Lovely, healthy bushy things. ::Glares at any slug who dares go near::

My only issue is the constant watering of the ones I put in pots and baskets through the summer. Does water retaining gel and lots of plant food make a big difference?

The only year I used water-retaining gel, we had so much rain that the plants nearly drowned!

Maud opens at 10 i think but if you want a pony ride then they are between 2pm and 4pm.

Rhubarb shame you will miss it but there is always next year. Have a nice holiday.

Just checked it opens 9.30 not 10.

I suspect it is to do with water. In the garden the drill is so shallow they must spend most of the time dry, but maybe get a better start in damp weather. I grow night scented stock and it fails even in pots sometimes but does great if started off indoors and kept an eye on. It looks crap but its the best smell ever.

I might save some seed this year but I always plan these things and forget.

Love the idea of lining the path.

Bumbez I am sure the rhubarb will be fine. I don't know about others but I am a scandal for planting what I want when I want. Usually works.

I remember years ago I had a small garden landscaped and dug up everything, heeled it in to a shallow tump of earth for at least a month and watered. It all lived, and it was July!