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.

X posts again. Funny I have cloud pruning envy. Your garden sounds beautiful. I turned our old boring front lawn into a rose parterre at the last house. Great fun.

I had to stop seed-sowing because my hands went numb in the biting wind. The sun was out, though.

I have sown fennel and dill (never tried these from seed before, but I love the featheriness of dill), ammi majus and Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate (polygonum orientale), both of which I am desprate to do well because the seeds came from Great Dixter.

I too have cloud pruning envy. What have you cloud-pruned, funnyperson?

Right, I just went to see if I could find out what I was talking about - I thought it was in Maggie Campbell-Culver, but she only talks about scythed lavender lawns in the 1700s.

BUT... I have seen mentioned violets, artemisia, plantain(!), chamomile and creeping thyme - I think I would add speedwell, buttercups, pinks, primroses and clover for a start. Just do small patches at a time. In my ideal world

I've already got bulbs/others mixed across the back of the lawn - winter aconites, snowdrops, scylla sibericas, bluebells, daffodils and some monster snowflakes (leucojums) which are far bigger than they should be

Funny, cloud pruning is just stunning - I wish I had enough shrubs.

Ooh, you do like frothy, Maud! I'm rather taken with that polygonum though.

Frothiness. Hmm.

I like frothy plants up to a point (I don't much care for nepeta, for example, and don't grow it) but, to the extent that I have a design philosphy beyond just bung it all in and hope for the best, I subscribe to William Morris's notion of abundance and informal planting within quite a formal design. So I have a box hedge, my borders and lawn are rectangular and I have little tolerance for things that spill randomly over the edge. When we went to the Red House, it was almost exactly what I am aiming for.

Large gardens are a lot of hard work as i have been out digging in mine since this morning and i still have masses left to do.
At the back i have about 50ft x 40ft and then another bit at the side of the house that is around 20ft . The front garden is about 50ft but mainly lawn and a maple hedge with a purnis tree, gum tree and a variegated wigelia at the front. The garage side has bastard palm tress which shed palms everywhere. One side of the garden is in complete shade due to 180 year old oak trees which grow down the bridle path to the side of us.
I dont grow veg only flowers in what i hope will be a cottage garden style.

Cloud pruning, ah yes, the cloud pruning is in process as it only started last year and it takes a while for a tree to take shape. The Ceanothus is the one in process. The cotoneaster too. Some of the cotoneaster is good topiary (ie round spherical shapes on lollipops in various amusing directions) but there is a massive shrub up against half a wall and this is being cloud pruned, as it grow quickly, and this is very pleasant as it is much less severe.

Yes I have bought dill and fennel too, and am debating on grasses. I like your idea, Maud, the framework of a rectangular garden is probably best kept simple and the plants give it movement and depth and architecture. I need to put up some more trellis because I am replacing a fence, and this year it will all be rectangular. My paths are straight.

Colour? I am veering away from frothy pinks and towards the deeper maroons, deep purple, touches of royal blue, and lots of green and ivory plants in the shady spots.

I have great concerns about box due to the fact that box blight is only about ten miles from us. DH has successfully grown on hundreds and hundreds of box cuttings to use in our garden but I worry about losing it all a few years down the line. We have also been buying large box balls whenever we see them for a reasonable price. In an ideal world we would make a knot garden in the patch of lawn at the front of the house as we could look down on it from above but I hesitate.

your oak trees sound wonderful cantspel, hope the digging goes quickly!

I'm learning so much reading this thread! Can I ask, what's cloud pruning?

I spent a very successful morning in the nursery, sadly for my wallet they had lots of things I was hoping for and quite a few I wasn't as well [bhblush]

I too was in the look out for fennel and Dill for my herb patch. They had a glorious bronze fennel, but no dill. I'll have to go back they also had about 6 different types of thyme, so I bought lots of those to soften the edges of my herb border and provide some ground cover. I also bought camomile, but I've no idea if it spreads...

I also got tempted into buying some sweet peas. I should really have grown them from seeds, but with everything else happening this spring, I've allowed myself to buy things from pots rather than seeds. anyway, it would appear I committed my first garden faux pas. I planted the sweet peas straight into soil, rather than separating them first. oops. In hindsight, a really silly mistake to make. But I'll learn!

it was gorgeous and sunny in my garden, and even warm! I think it's actually a little bit sheltered, which is perfect. However, spending all day out there had made me realise one side of the garden really does get no sun at all... one long side

Don't worry, Gin, there are lots of gorgeous plants for shade. Funnyperson and I can give you a list if you like.

I dread box blight too.

Glad everyone has had a good day overall and that Mini Rhubarb is OK.

The sun came out here and I indulged in a bit of garden nostalgia in my Aunt's garden whilst the children hunted for eggs. The cherry tree is still there and is nearly 60 years old now, it's huge. There's a Magnolia about the same age, also huge, would have loved to have seen them both in flower . My Uncle had photos from a couple of weeks ago of a lawn full of crocuses, until the snow landed and killed the lot.You could see the leaves all in the grass, loads.

The Forsythia is about to burst into bloom and their tulips were more advanced than mine but still ages from flowering. They've got a passion flower by the front door that they thought died over the winter a couple of years ago so my Aunt planted beans. Except it wasn't dead so they had a tangled mess of runner beans and passion flower.

We also peered through th gate of my Grandparent's old house which had a little garden down the end from which my Oma managed to produce a lot of fruit and veg to feed them during the war . Couldn't see much but there was a nice rustic looking arch installed in the entrance and it looked well cared for, which was lovely to see.

I am going to have to buy seedlings when I get back. Please tell me it will get warmer...

Maud, your style is my favourite one. Formal structure with relaxed planting. Lovely. My old front garden was exactly like that - a symmetrical box parterre filled with roses and cottage garden flowers, and a little fine lawn in the centre. But then it got box blight, which was a tragedy. Then the new owners sliced a metre off the side to widen the drive and destroyed the symmetry in one fell swoop. I went back to collect some post and was aghast. They had also turfed over my veg plot and asparagus bed. Sigh.

Lovely day here today. I got the orchard mowed so it is satisfyingly stripey now. I must get a strimmer though, going round the fruit trees is not fun. Also got some more yew hedge planted, and spent a happy hour when I couldn't really do anything because ds was crawling around exploring the garden, just cogitating on what to do with the overall layout etc. I think I've solved some issues that were troubling me re where to put paths and extend borders etc, and I have finally decided where to put a pergola. I feel excited all over again! Sometimes the sheer size of the garden intimidates me. Cantspell you are so right about large gardens.

And this talk of cloud pruning and knot gardens is making me want both of those. So maybe the patch of lawn which will now probably not be a chamomile lawn could host those! I do like the sound of the jewelled lawn plants though.

So much to consider!

Wynken are you Dutch then if you have an Oma? It sounds like you've had a nice time over there. My dh is Dutch. He took me to the Keukenhof a few years ago - bliss.

Oooh, Keukenhof. That and Courson are on my to do/visit list.

The arbour has been built! Unfortunately it is on the patio and not where it should be. It's going to need more than DH and I to move it. However it looks good and is very comfy. We had a cup of tea sat in it ignoring the fact we were facing the patio door rather than the afternoon sun which was pleasant. I've just ordered the pebbles to go around it which was not so pleasant!

I'd like to have some scented summer flowering climbers to go with the clematis to grow over it. Definitely a jasmine but I'm not sure if I want just jasmine or to put a honeysuckle in the mix as well.

Did a little tidy up of the long border after throwing in some summer bulbs. Cleared some dead leaves off to let more light in to let the weeds grow have quite a few chionodoxa, anemone blanda and muscari flowering now. The alliums are being eaten by the pesky rabbits though.

Well done, Bertha!

All my anemone blanda have disappeared. Apart from chionodoxa, small bulbs don't seem to like my soil. Boo.

I am trying to psych myself to get off the sofa, find a screwdriver and assemble my new coldframe.

to the arbour!

Cloud pruning = Niwaki= Ancient Japanese way of shaping trees and bushes to look like clouds.

Pictures here
www.google.co.uk/search?q=cloud+pruning&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=svRZUbeID7KK4gS8woDIAQ&ved=0CDwQsAQ&biw=1161&bih=575

I think it was Carol Klein who had someone come in and cloud prune her hedge last Autumn. It would be interesting to see how that survived the winter.

Will talk about shade under oak trees another time. I am flopping and gathering energy for the week.

The oaks are beautiful but i find myself fighting a never ending battle with the leaves. The shade from them turns to lawn to moss on that side of the garden . I have fatsia japonia and camilia, Euphorbia, Alchemilla, and a couple of Rhododendron all planted in their shady and they all do very well so just shows there is always something that will grow no matter how shady it is.

Is there room for one more in the potting shed?
I am almost a complete beginner, having planted some failed potatoes and strawberries last year, and some successful onions....
I've been enjoying reading the thread and thought I would say hello. You all sound like you have lovely gardens!
My garden project is currently still a building site in an agricultural field! Dh and i are still not in agreement about how much garden i will be allowed to have, but i'm hoping for 2/3 acre. I have lots of ideas and plans (orchard, potager style veg garden, rose area, lilacs, wisteria, cottage style flowers, herb patch, patio, paths, greenhouse, potting shed, renovate old sheds for stables, hens, garden pavilion/summerhouse) and the thought of actually making them happen is overwhelming... but it is lovely hearing how you are all making progress in your gardens.
After my lack of success last year, I am thinking of digging up the surviving strawberry plants and potting them up instead. Do you think that would be feasible? What size pots should I use, and would I put each plant in a separate pot?

Hello Castlelough. Of course you're welcome.

::proffers virtual as it's probably too early for gin::

Whereabouts are you? It makes me smile that you're haggling with your DH over having 2/3 of an acre. Are you on a farm?

I don't think strawberries would thrive in individual pots unless they were very big. The nicest thing I've seen - apart from terracotta strawberry planters - was something (?) Alan Titchmarsh did on the telly years ago. He made a stack of three terracotta pots of diminishing size, part filled with compost so that each one was about 3 inches proud of the one it was standing in, and then planted strawberries around the edge of the bottom two and filling the top pot. It looked lovely as the strawberries cascaded over the sides.

Thanks for the welcome Maud .

Yes, I AM haggling with DH. We are building a house in a green agricultural field on the farm (DH is a small-time farmer, about 80 acres around the house of rock/stone/lake/bog and some good grazing. There are 19 cows, and calves. We rent nearby, and have 2 cats and a horse , no babies yet, but hopefully one day soon !

I thought we could have as much garden as we liked, but I think you have to apply for planning permission to change the use of land. I'm not sure what is on the actual land map for our site, but am sure it is minimal - nobody around here seems interested in gardening much apart from practical gardening - veg etc.

I'm in Ireland, south-west .

Thanks for coffee . And strawberry advice! Love the idea of the Alan Titchmarsh pot idea, but I need to make do with the motley collection of plastic pots I have, for now. Would I put a few plants into each pot, so?

How big are your biggest pots?

Hmmm I'll have to check... not very !

Morning all, can I join in?

This is finally the year that our garden will be sorted. Lots of 'hardware' stuff to be done (put in gate so DS can't escape, rock garden, area for DS with swing) this year.

Garden is quite long and split into sections - large gravel area with a deck and stepping stones, hammock frame; 2 derelict areas for development (rock/Japanese style gravel garden and area for DS);small L shaped raised bed for herbs and veg; beds alongside garage which have been used for toms/strawbs/sunflowers; patio area that looks out over garden with forsythia at back to shield from neighbours; shady bed with lots of lily-of-valley and horrible prickly bush that has to go; junk area directly behind house (tiles, bricks, all those things that 'might be useful' according to DH ); garage full of rubbish and small front garden bed.

First time I've managed to get out in the garden today, so collected up leaves and getting bench out of shed. Have been trying to prepare the area for rock garden so we can order gravel and have another section 'done'. Need to choose plants to put in as well.

I want to plant some lavender in the front garden this year and replace the climbing rose that DH's DGF had on the front of our house. Also want to put in some daff and tulips bulbs for next year.

I'd love to plant either a pear of cherry tree in the large gravel area we have at back and put up a trellis next to the deck for more privacy from over looking neighbours. Have another bench to put on deck at far end but needs some maintenance first.

I have so many ideas (pinterest is fuelling this) but am having to rein myself in and not get too ambitious!

Blue skies and sunshine here. I'm over in Holland (DH is Dutch) and will definitely be making a trip to Keukenhof this year (the theme for 2013 is the UK )

echt how do you get GW on iPlayer (I can't access the TV programmes as not in UK)? I have to watch when it's on or Sunday repeat.