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.

Onefewernow - I am sure you are right. It is intermittent drought and neglect that does for most of my seedlings.

I have concluded that I am a spendthrift when it comes to the garden. I just went to the local garden centre, because they had sent me a coupon so I thought it polite to go and look. I came away with an astilbe and a euphorbia rescued from the shelf of doom/imminent death all for the princely sum of a fiver.

Oh that's good to hear onefewernow and Maud. We're actually having Rhubarb with yogurt for pudding. I can't believe how expensive it is, can't wait to harvest ours.

Tescos have large standard olive trees for £20 I'm tempted to put them in large terracotta pots left by the previous owners in the south facing front garden.

On the other hand I'm trying to reduce the pots, pita to keep on top of the watering in the summer.

Love your arbour Bertha.

Maud, there are spendthrifts and spendthrifts.

I can NOT be trusted in the garden centre when money out to be reserved.

WE have had two bittlerly cold winters here, and I still have an olive tree in a pot after a decade. Sometimes it loses leaves, but it gets by and grows more the next year, and after I hack off dead bits. It is in an exposed place, too.

I sometimes think we can grow far more in the UK than people think. I have not even lost a large oleander in a pot, although I admit it didnt trouble itself to flower last summer.

Yep spendthrift here too . It is taking a vast amount of willpower not to buy any plants for the new garden. I think the only thing that's keeping me in check is the knowledge that one slip will cause an avalanche. So I must not start until the observation year is up. I also need to demonstrate commitment to austerity measures in the face of house renovation costs.

Alitex brochure tumbled through the door today. How did that happen

Observation years are hard The year we spent spraying the bindweed is carved on my memory.

I am a spendthrift where the garden is concerned. So is DH. He is worse than I am, actually.

Night scented stock! I must get some. My tobacco plants have not germinated yet but the sweetcorn has.

Welcome Bumbez.

The veg plot is being over run with self-seeded borage! Glad I have some growing in the conservatory

I planted out some cosmos today to feed the rabbits in the long bed. Whilst I was planting I was happily pulling up little weeds until I realised that they were self-seeded cosmos from last year! Not sure why I'm bothering really, I should just let the garden get on with it!

I have some teeny violas growing wild in the front garden and at the edge of the wood. I love them there but somehow think they'd be a bit too delicate for the border.

My saxifrage are flowering. I'm shocked. They're rather delicate too but pretty so they can stay until swamped by nepeta and dianthus.

Sorry I forgot to say hello and welcome to Bumbez. Hello and welcome. Have a scone.

borage is delicious in salad. and the bees love it. (my father is a beekeeper and his garden is full of bee friendly plants.
my blue ceanothus had it's first blooms and about 30.000 more buds.

waiting for my roses...

oh and borage is very good for making liquid fertiliser: cut it up in a bucket, fill up with water and leave until the leaves dissolve (and stink!).

How fabulous to have a beekeeper in the family. Please bring some honey to the potting shed

the honey is for making fresh lemonade

do you like mead, Mousymouse?

I have liked it on a sunny day, in small amounts and in a generally outdoors, bucolic sort of situation. Not sure how it would go down otherwise.

Ooh mouseymouse, my dad is also a beekeeper. We make our own mead too.

Its been lovely to see all the bees flying these past few sunny days!

I'm leaving some of the self seeded borage to grow for a bit so I can crop the leaves for my pimms

I grow a few borage plants in the veg plot to attract the bees in. They have to breathe in to squeeze through the netting so need lots of encouragement.

mead only in very small quantaties, too sweet for my taste might have gone drunk on it as a teenager
my father does a honey vodka though which is great after a heavy meal.

I love bees, where we used to live in ec london there were no bees. but have seen many in my garden.

I have never been stung by bees, fabulous creatures

Dianthus! Sigh. Not good on clay, so I can't have them.

I do have one plant tip for cheap plants. There is a wholesaler near us I visited twice, which admits the public. I bought a heap there last year at 3.50 a shrub, which was unbelievable.

I am in the midlands, and will pm the postcode if the place if anyone wants it. The time I went, it was necessary to call as thru don't usually get visitors, but I bought over ten plants for £35, and they were a decent size too. Shrubs can be so expensive, it may be worth the trip fir anyone not too far away.

Hi, I have a question for you lovely ladies:

I have a border alongside my drive which is full of tulips at the mo. I'd like to fill it with my dahlias (currently being brought on in pots) so I can have some summer colour. Thing is, it's a pita trying to put plants in without disturbing the tulip bulbs. Shall I take the bulbs out when I put the dahlias in and replace them in the autumn when I lift and store the dahlia tubers?

Thanks!

Aldi have got good sized terracotta pots for £4.50. Dh has come home with 10.

Malvern Spring Show tomorrow! If it survives the gales tonight, that is.

hi dawny
my lazy solution is to wait until the tulips have lost their over ground leaves (shouldn't be long now) then the bulbs are dormant and you can just take them anywhere you like.

Dawny yes lift the tulip bulbs once the leaves have gone brown (make sure you dead head as soon as the flowers are done so that the plant builds up the bulb instead of wasting energy making seed) and store in a paper bag somewhere dry until replanting time in November.

Two beekeepers - [very excited] I sometimes lie awake in bed worrying about the huge amounts of bees dying Mousymouse and Dawny, my dad had about 5 hives, but they all died of verroa I think it was.
Any tips?

Bertha Hurray for your saxifridge flowers, I also have 3 little plants I got in B&Q for a fiver flowering. Not sure if they'll survive this gale and rain, they are looking a bit forlorn out there.

My hosta (inherited from my gran, along with their house and garden) is unfurling bright green leaves as we speak; dad said you can eat the shoots like asparagus . Has anyone committed such a crime heard of, or tried this?

My Queens Of The Night are out, and a couple of baby pink tulips too. Funny how they have come at different times, I'm fairly sure these are the ones which were left in the ground all last year intentionally of course, to naturalise, natch and along the front path some dwarf sized narcissus, which have only come into bloom after I've deadheaded the other daffs - it's like they were too special to be seen at the same party...

How long does tumbleweed take to act on dandelions, anyone? I sprayed on Monday when they were in bright sunshine so I thought they would breathe in the poison nice and deeply... and the buggers are still looking alive. do I need to whack them all again? need to pick a moment when it's not about to rainwash the glypho off them.

I have heard that hosta tips can be steamed and eaten (very popular in Japan, apparently) but I've never tried. Although I am officially Giving Up on hostas, the freebies that came with my Parkers order are looking so good that I am tempted to try again. Pity the fool.

And the dratted snail has eaten the top off several of my cosmos seedlings. Boo.

My favourite tulips today are Caravelle and Couleur Cardinal. Brown Sugar isn't quite open yet but I think is going to be another good one. I never lift the bulbs (I leave them in their pots), which generally works well for the first two or three years but they start to dwindle after that.