Blooming into Flaming June

[Blackpuddingbertha]

Keeping the potting shed party going from the previous Rhubarb Society thread and all threads before it.

Please feel free to join in all gardeners, whether novice, professional or aspiring. Plenty of blackberry gin for all.

A very frustrating day's gardening here...

I wanted to make ready a 4 metre bed, next to the new fence, for the new tree peony border. I had to dig over and take out some of the the clay soil as well as any remaining brambles, mark the edges then dig in compost, fertiliser and then cover with bark. I did most of the heavy work then got really fucked off with it so DH ended up doing all the fun bits

I couldn't even put the peonies in as I'm still waiting for the mycorrhizal fungi to arrive. I am presuming this it's a good idea to use this with peonies??!

I am also having a wobble about my planting scheme.... I have a baby magnolia which I was planning on planting jutting out of he border, half way down the garden, with some ground cover roses. But now I am scared this is going to shoot up into a massive tree and am thinking it might be more sensible to grow it in a container on the patio at the end instead? But then it would never last the winter and I do want it to live. I wish I'd never bought it now, bloody lidl and their bargain plants"

In my experience magnolias don't 'shoot up' at any great speed. Very slow growing. I'd plant it out, it could take 20 years to get to 2m tall! I kill all ours anyway

magnolias in my garden tend to stagnate rather than shoot up. I agree with Bertha, you should go for it.

Put in lots of plant supports today. Also moved all my scented geraniums onto the verandah (these have been nursed back to life after morning sickness neglect and are looking extremely healthy, planted crimson nasturtiums in the round tin bath we bought at Malvern and fed lots of pots that needed it. DH did the mowing and edging and drilled holes in various pots. We now have an awful lot of pots in this garden. They take a lot of looking after, we must be mad.

We are about to watch GW. Am deeply impressed that we have someone who KNOWS MONTY on this thread .

Humph, once you've watched it compare yourself to the batty cottage couple then decide whether you have too many pots

I have to watch GW on the quiet. MiniPSB (13 ) has this idea I am in lurve with Monty, so he hangs around going "Mont-eeee, Mont-eeeeeeee", in an initially sweet, but ultimately annoying, way.

I cleared some beds in the front of dead bulb foliage and lolling Euphorbia Wulfenii branches, creating lots of room and planted out some plants, and sowed some seeds (in desperation, to fill likely gaps) (should have left some of those Euphorbia branches!) I did discover the perennial peas that I grew from seed last year have survived winter. They have only just come though, so it's a good thing I haven't been weeding much before, or I might have dug them up.

Yes I think plant out the Magnolia- always remembering the Monty technique of digging a big hole and filling with good compost to give it a good start. I've kept my M. Stellata in a pot, the M. Soulanganea we planted out in dad's garden last year didn't survive but it was a small plant and next time we try I am going to either nurture a small plant or buy a big one.
I used the rhizomatous fungi to plant the tree peony. It seemed like a good idea as it arrived 'bare root' like bare root roses do. I expect it will take years to flower.
I planted in lots of plants today which have been hanging about in pots: Astrantia (Venice and Shaggy....again: but big healthy plants from Chelsea), Martagon Lilies, Nectaroscordum, Clematis Mrs Cholmondely. I still dont have enough clematis. The bees like the geraniums in flower at the moment.
My garden colours are woodland shady garden colours: purples, blues, clarets, greens, pinks and ivory.
At mum's house we are beginning to plant in bolder blocks of colour so that dad can see, and today we planted a variegated leaved red Azalea which is a lovely plant and will have colour in the Autumn.

We had nettle quiche today, and rocket and salad from the garden: very satisfying.
But my rhubarb has gone all floppy .

Nettle quiche recipe please funny

Here you go, bertha
www.hedgerowharvest.org.uk/hedge-recipes/item/116-nettle-quiche

I never bake my quiche pastry blind, but I make shortcrust pastry (its quite nice to add finely chopped fresh garden sage and some salt to the pastry mix), put it in the fridge while doing the filling and then roll it out and put the uncooked quiche filling on top and bake it all at once. I also add in some cheddar cheese to this particular filling recipe as otherwise it can taste soggy and custardy rather than like a quiche if you see what I mean.

I may not be QUITE as batty as the couple on GW but I have just counted the pots in the garden. There are 78 . That is ridiculous.

I was thinking of their water bill. they are probably not on a meter.
a water butt cannot get enough water for all these plants!

Lol at 78 pots that makes me feel better. The thing is I planted out half the delphinium seedlings 2 weeks ago and they are all gone (slugs or birds or whatever) whereas the ones I didn't plant out are in their pots still growing nice healthy root systems, so I think it is still possible with this relatively cold year to plant out too early, so that's why the number of pots is higher than usual in my garden this year anyway.
Hostas have survived the winter and are coming up: yay! Acanthus didn't survive though, neither did the tree lilies. I can't understand it as Jasmine is thriving happily in the very same space.
There are loads of buds on the roses. This is going to be a fabulous year for roses. That mulch in the spring did a lot of good.

78 pots is on the very impressive side of things! I've just been dealing with nettles at the allotment as my nettle patch was getting our of hand and I was worried a tourist would get stung. Still can't quite get my head about having tourists wondering randomly. I knew there would be some but originally it was going to be certain times only and now it seems as if it is most of the day. I think I managed to look unapproachable today so was left in peace.

My plot is transformed in a day from very weedy to not too bad at all. In went sweetcorn, a pumpkin, courgettes, spaghetti squash, lettuce and tomatillo plus I moved some Oca to the Oca spot. Not doing them in pots again, they work fine chucked into the ground. The strawberry crop looks like it will be excellent as long as the animals don't have them. The raspberries are making a bid for plot domination and the 2 rhubarb plants are massive. Not so good is that birds have eaten my cabbage and kale and rabbits have been munching the tops or the shallots. Seems when the allotments were done the rabbits got fenced into the site instead of out

rhihaf it certainly was, lots of candles in cosy warm flagged kitchen. mince pies waiting in the stove and I recall very potent potato vodka on one occasion!!

I spent quite a bit of time there being friends with his children (and every school trip seemed to entail walking there to see something or other!)

well yesterday I asked OH to help me mark out the new borders in the front garden, went inside to cook the childrens dinner and came back out to all the turf stripped off the and piled in the corner so the are all ready to dig! there is a reason im marrying him.
Today we went to a wildlife rescue place handily attached to a garden centre I had a nosey but only came back with 1 (reduced) fig tree - its only about 18" tall but I need to find a big pot suitable for it to go on the patio I think.

I have been doing a lot of sitting about in the tranquil garden today and remain eternally thankful that I am not famous. I dont think I would want school trips to my garden. This is bad. My sense of ambition and desire to is definitely decreasing with age.

That said, Monty's step-over apples were v impressive! Mine have failed miserably to be step-overs and are growing in a sort of anyhow shape. I must get my head round the technique at some point. Did you get a 'brown turkey' fig : thats all there seem to be in the shop.

So, how did you plan your Chelsea garden? What were the highs and the lows?

78 pots! . I thought my collection at the old house was out of control but now I feel like an amateur.

Not much gardening this weekend as we had guests. Bit of weeding, bit of edging, bit of strimming, bit of ripping out more snow berry bushes which are growing out of the orchard walls.

Then I made a stranger very happy by Freecycling the old death trap greenhouse at the bottom of the garden. As my new Alitex lean-to greenhouse is not now imminent I toyed with the idea of sorting out the existing one, but it wasn't safety glass so would have had to be re-glazed, the base was all weird and pot-holey and the position was a problem being too far from the house and underneath mature trees. But mainly I am always wary of temporary measures in case they become permanent features. I'm more likely to get my lean-to if I have no greenhouse at all.

Anyway, like I say it made one local gardener very happy indeed. He had it dismantled and removed within 24 hours of me posting the ad.

It was a heavenly day. I have just cut some flowers for the house - mainly sweet rocket and aquilegia with catmint and one huge, pink oriental poppy.

DH is still out there, watering the pots .

I have sat about in the garden a fair bit too. It was lovely and is starting to smell gorgeous. I also pricked out the lime green nicotiana. Tomorrow I am going to pot on a lot of fox gloves, sow some wallflowers and holly hocks and water lots of pots

yes lovely today.
not too warm not too cold.
the dc went on a snail hunt at silly o'clock early in the morning. 1p per snail. I am poor now :) the dc got enough money to buy themselves and ice cream from the corner shop.
we went to the queen's orchard in greenwich park which is now open for the public on some days.
beautiful.
I was able to show the dc some nice veg and fruit trees. it is still very new and a bit bare but can be lovely in coming seasons.

I love hearing about everyone's gardens, 'tis a joy!

Secret Garden update: cut down a huge scraggly conifer of some kind from the hedge that runs along the bottom of what used to be a rose garden (they were all dead or past it, tangled into brambles, so a JCB just cleared the whole patch) and unearthed two beautiful apple tress! They have exploded into bloom - you can almost hear them breathing again (trumpet fanfare)

Planted up the walled/raised bed in front of the old greenhouse with thyme, mint, sage, chives and Welsh onion and cut off the dead bits of the peach tree in said greenhouse. Also washed the glass - what a difference!

The Clematis that has scrambled up the lilac is beginning to flower and looks incredible.

We have decided to leave the other walled bed (where the lilac is, at the back) full of bluebells and ground elder , OR ruthlessly dig it up and plant something like cotoneaster (can't spell it)...it has to be low maintenace as it'll be a holiday let.

How does GW go so quickly?! Whenever I watch it, I just start settling into it adn it ends!!!

Sorry for the long post thought by splitting it into two it wouldn't bore everyone so much

In our own garden:
Planted out nasturtiums, delphiniums, hollyhocks, poppies and some other perennials that form a blanket with tiny yellow flowers, and one with bright red star-shaped flowers... My Poundland anenomes are glorious! Bright pink flowers bobbing about in the breeze , they are just so cheerful.

Also sowed some spring onions, garlic chives, radish and rocket. Feeling at one with nature, been walking around barefoot with the hosepipe and squirty thing on the end, admiring the apple blossom and listening to the blackbirds.

The avenue of Rowan down to the orchard is also in bloom and the perfume is FANTASTIC! Enjoy your gardens!

How romantic rhihaf - discovering apple trees like that. It sounds wonderful.

Just back from a few days away and haven't quite managed to keep up with the thread but I gather we have someone here who has met Monty.

::curtseys::

In my absence, several of the plants in the garden seem to have doubled in size and two roses - Gloriana in the front garden and Darcey Bussell in the back - have come into bloom. Clematis Wada's Primrose is doing her lovely thing in the fig tree and the foxes have done their hideous pooping thing all over the lawn.

I must count my pots but it'll be nowhere near 78, especially after my recent cull.

I love to hear everyone's gardening news too, keep it coming!

Sorry to ask these rather pedantic questions:How do i stop my dog weeing against the big pots on my patio?.Secondly how can i clean the dog wee off the sandstone without damaging all my clematis and roses?I will be ever grateful to anyone who's knowledgeable about these things[every time i google this i get a Trojan worm on my computer].

I don't have a dog, but I've read about "dog rocks" that you put in the dog's water bowl to make their wee less toxic. Otherwise, I use Ecover washing up liquid for fox poo-related cleaning. I used to use Jeyes fluid but am worried too about damaging/staining my lovely new patio.

I use bio washing powder for fox-related cleaning.
apparently the enzymes 'eat' the proteins.
do you have a jet washer? maybe scrub the worst areas with washing solution and then hose it down. (and don't let the dog near the pots again?)