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.

ooh, your plans sound lovely Castlelough.

Welcome to Vastle and Engel, lovely to hear your plans, I'll hand round the biscuits

I'm sure Echt will fill in on how to get iplayer but I think it's something to do with a Virtual Personal Network service, or something along those lines. I'm currently on holiday in Holland until the end of the week

Enjoy Holland Wynken . This is the best weather we've had this year. I wonder if you're near me (I'm 15 mins from Germany, but it is a long border!).

Waves to all the new garden fans.

I have spent a a lovely afternoon giving the lawn its first cut of the year.
At first my mover was playing dead but i cleaned up the spark plug and away we went. Garden looks 100% better now the lawn is tidy but cutting it did expose how much moss has taken over where they should be grass.

Weather is certainly a lot more pleasant than when we arrived last week and kept being snowed on ! We're staying near Aachen in a Landal, have family outside Bonn. Last year we went to another Landal further up into Holland, near Apeldoorn. Lovely country with really friendly people who cope graciously with my non existent Dutch, though I do try.

Castle, I might be tempted to leave those strawberries where they are, chuck a bit of netting over and see if they do better the second year.

My strawberries died over the winter.

I planted some sea holly rhizomes today - I hope they grow!

Don't write them off yet Whatkindoffool. Strawberries are very hardy and do look dead over winter. They then usually spring back to life when the weather warms up - so not yet this year !

I love sea holly but it never thrive here - obviously my cold, wet clay is the opposite of what it likes.

I must check how many of my strawberry plants have made it through the winter - the ones I bought at the RHS but never got round to planting properly (leaving them in their little pots) are looking rather weather-beaten.

Hello Castle and Engelse. Gosh, Dutchness all over the place! What's a Landal? I just asked dh (who is Dutch) and he looked at me blankly and just continued wittering about work, so I've zoned him out again.

I feel your pain re moss, cantspel. Mine's the same. As I need to buy a strimmer I'm considering chucking a scarifier in the trolley while I'm at it.

The tree surgeon came back to me today saying we need to get permission from the tree officer at the council to prune the bay trees. You need permission to bloody well pull up a dandelion round here.

I finally finished planting my yew hedge today, hallelujah. Only taken me six months, with this awful winter. I can finally move on to some other priorities. So I celebrated by spending a happy couple of hours clipping conifers. Which is not a priority. I like clipping.

I have been googling Landals. They look rather lovely.

I am resisting the temptation to go and poke my seeds, to see if they have germinated.

Hello to Castle and Engels . Love hearing about new garden plans.

I too love sea holly but don't think it would do so well in my bed.

I'm resigned to our moss, it's green and reduces the amount of lawn mowing required. I just wish it would stay on the lawn bit and out of my veg plot and flower bed!

My kale has started flowering. Wasn't paying attention as it is still quite stunted. We will mostly be eating kale this week. Tasty though.

Thanks for all being so welcoming. I like it in this potting shed. And I like hearing what everyone else is doing in their gardens

I managed to unearth 7 strawberry plants and repot them into very small pots. It took me ages to find them amongst the grasses and weeds, I have a feeling there may be another one lurking there still. The bed is a right mess (it wasn't raised) and several cow rampages have left their mark! Wynken I had them potted up before I saw your comment but maybe the strawberries are better off out of there for now, at least until I have a safe place for them.
My onions and potatoes withstood the cow break-ins last year so hopefully tomorrow I will dig the rest of the bed over and plant my onions. It really isn't a big bed, 2.5m x 1.5m, but it took me ages to dig it out last year that was before I learned what the fork and rake could do . The whole place will have to be rotivated down the line whenever the bank will lend us more money but I couldn't wait to get started just a little bit!

I will have to invest jn some pots I think...
Also, I wonder if I bought some box plants could I propagate lots more to edge my future garden projects... Would I need cold frames or something for that?
And somebody mentioned lavendar, that would take two years. Hmmm maybe I should start on the two-year planting projects, as I'm so limited for the moment...

Yes, in all its various incarnations this potting shed has been delightful. I love it.

it is indeed a lovely potting shed

I would go for it on the box cuttings/lavendar front Castlelough, you have the space to do the cuttings! We made a basic frame and stapled bubblewrap to the top in order to made a coldframe to overwinter them. I have successfully done lavendar cuttings but they don't thrive in our soil so I have given up on those.

This potting shed had its second birthday a couple weeks ago, I just checked. original thread here

Two years?

::Gets a little misty-eyed::

We should have a party.

::Proffers and , which might be bruschetta if you squint::

Oh that thread takes me back. You have kept your name for a while then Maud!

I'll have a wine thanks

I can't believe it is two years ago. Well checked Bertha.

Yes, I used to name-change quite often, but I like this name so much - chiefly because it abbreviates to an actual name - that I've kept it all this time.

::sloshes wine into glasses and proposes a toast::

here too please. Forgot I had a different user name then. This one is thanks to Maud I think and Humphrey's first set of pigs!

I didn't have any borders then either, just the veggies, but this thread inspired me. And continues to do so. Along with Monty obviously.

I have had a few names but this one for about three years now. Someone shouted Humphrey at their dog the other day and I really thought they were addressing me.

It was delicious black pudding too. We have never bothered making it since though...the blood splattered walls were just too much

I have a friend with a chicken named Bertha; I find that confusing too.

everytime I look at the alchemilla mollis in the front garden I think of Maud as it was her suggestion