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.

[WynkenBlynkenandNod]

Thank you both. Yes we do/did both work for my Brother . It was a good arrangement as meant we could drop things and help Mum when she needed help that couldn't have been done otherwise. I guess when you haven't seen someone for the length of time he hasn't seen Mum and they have deteriorated to the extent of being diagnosed with Dementia and don't have Capacity it must be hard to understand what the true picture is.

Could we brew something very strong for the potting shed?

Nightmare with the bloodbath . I've had stern words with my three this morning about how I will be very very cross if anything like that happens here. They purred at me.

Feel relieved this morning that I did get the hose out and water the fruit trees as two are new in this year. The allotment in this weather is a bit of a nightmare as so hot and dry. I did bring back a fair few broad beans, a lettuce, shallots and a few strawberries . My neighbour's raspberries are magnificent this year after a hefty dose of manure last Autumn, she has ridiculous amount on them.

[RakeABedOfTyneFilth]

Well, I have hyssop and lemon balm, any one else have grand and petit wormwood, Florence fennel and green anise? {{hugs Wynken}}

I have lots of raspberries out the front of my house but DH and DS seem oddly uninterested in picking them...

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Oh dear, Wynken, I wish I could do more than offer you some of TyneFilth's home brewed absinthe.

[MousyMouse]

oh wynken that sounds so difficult.
I can only offer some homemade lemonade with a good glugg of pimms.

I don't have a lawn anymore, it's totally scorched. I have watered it quite a bit last week with our bathwater as we didn't have a bathroom but it was too little too late I think. and the june bugs have started to emerge as well.

we have a bird feeding table in our garden but have only used it a couple of times as it turned into a cat feeding table...
but we have a couple of ferns in the border which I keep watered well. I also have a bowl with compost that I keep very wet for the insects, especially bees, to drink of. allsorts of bees and butterflies come there.

[Bumbez]

wynken I'm really sorry to hear that, pimms and lemonade sounds heavenly although sadly I have to work tonight.

I wonder how long before there is a hosepipe ban, most of my lawn is brown, funny that I agonised over dog rocks to stop wee burns - there's not really any point.

There is really not much happening in the garden flower wise, I need to plan what to plant and when for next year. I like pinks, blues and purples and am not so keen on yellow which is what my garden largely is.

I keep my bird bath topped up, although I've yet to see them use it, they do however follow me around in the evening, when I go round with the hose.

I would also like to say they I really love this thread, I am learning so much, thank-you :)

[HumphreyCobbler]

Oh wynken. So sorry to hear that.

[secretscwirrels]

I've just found this thread, please may I join?
I am drowning in blackcurrants. My raspberries have been wonderful, a bowl a day, just enough to eat with the odd bag for the freezer. The blackcurrants are never ending though. In fact just as I thought I had cut the last branch my mother asked me to help her pick hers. DF planted about 10 bushes before he died and DM doesn't really want them. I only finished last years from the freezer a month ago.

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Of course you can, secretscwirrels. The more the merrier. Tell us about your garden.

[secretscwirrels]

We moved here in 1988. It was a barn conversion and the pile of rubble garden was just an old farmyard. It's heavy clay and very stony. There is a seam of ironstone just below the surface. My early gardening was more mining than digging. I have great stones for walls and rockeries though .
As well as picking currants I am currently watering for two neighbours who are on holiday, one of them has about 40 containers and baskets.

[MousyMouse]

all my plans for the weekend are gone.
my dfil has broken his leg and is in hospital waiting for the operation. so I will have to visit tomorrow and translate as he doesn't speak any english apart from saying 'no speak english'
and dh is away for the weekend doing a triathlon. the dc very very excited, though, seeing an ambulance from the inside.

I love black currants. the juice/jelly goes very well with steak/venison and my dc like a smoothie into which I like to put a handfull of frozen ones.

[HumphreyCobbler]

Hello secretscwirrels - nice to meet you.

Oh Mousy, I hope he is ok? What a nightmare.

[Rhubarbgarden]

Welcome, Secretscwirrels! Your barn conversion sounds lovely. As does your rockery - I love a good rock garden.

Mousy that's not good. I hope you manage to squeeze in some garden time after doing the hospital duties.

Dh has been offered and accepted a new job today. It will mean a substantial drop in income for a few years but with the potential to be quids in after that. He's very excited about it. I'm trying not to feel forlorn about my greenhouse drifting further over the horizon as all renovation plans are now on hold. I'll have to come up with a temporary solution of some kind. Any recommendations for real cheapy greenhouses that are a step up from zip up polythene ones? - I've never had any success with those things.

[NotAnotherNewNappy]

Secret - I wish I had a kindly neighbour like you

Wynken - sorry to hear bout your mum/brother dramas

I have a toad! A big, fat slug eating toad! I hope he's here to stay, although I have no pond or even bird bath and two cats, so I don't rate his chances very much.

I just received a job notification for a role in Kew Gardens. It's more junior than my current role and completely the wrong side of London for me, but oh the staff discount could be worth it....

Thank you all for the raspberry advice

[Rhubarbgarden]

NANN that's fabulous! Well done! I did an internship at Kew and volunteered there for a while. It's a wonderful place to work. Which section will you be in?

[funnyperson]

This is all a bit sad news what with bird corpses and sackings. Life goes on. There is a lot of use in having a need to water the garden as this simple routine helps me keep on a even keel.
DS and I are taking ages to put a garden swing together and I am taking ages trying to decide the best places to plant all the plants I have bought and nurtured over the last month or so. It was nice to hear about the slow gardener on gardeners world therefore.
I am enjoying reading the unloved gardens b and q thread and remain a s ever in awe of humphs's DH
Naturalistic vs Sissinghurst. ???????

[Rhubarbgarden]

Oh bugger I forgot GW was on, and double bugger it failed to record. Some child has clearly been tinkering with the thing-that-is-not-a-video-but-which-records-the-telly. Damn, damn, damn

[WynkenBlynkenandNod]

Thank you all. All is well in the workd today as my garden got watered yesterday and I have just watched GW with my first cuppa of the day.

I'm off now to find the dog, a potato and the number of the vet in case it all goes wrong

[secretscwirrels]

A cloudy day at last. I have some catching up to do. It's open gardens in the small market town near us and among them is my favourite garden ever. I wasn't going to go if it was 30C but it's a lovely 18C today.
I have a 15 year old DS who comes round gardens with me (don't tell any of his friends). He likes to plan garden projects but is never there when I want some heavy labour .
NotAnotherNewNappy I hope your toad decides to stay. Have you a damp pile of stones he could hide under? My frogs seem to like the greenhouse in winter though I don't know where they are now.

[HumphreyCobbler]

I am really hoping that my dc will be up for labouring in the garden for a small fee when they are older . DS did pick an enormous amount of raspberries all on his own the other day, he is clearly a chip off the old block.

I cut all the sweet peas this morning, lots were going to seed as I had neglected them. I planted out a few of the sunflowers that are completely pot bound and cut back the geum bed outside the back door which is also full of self seeded mallow. Dh is cutting the inside of the native hedge.

[Rhubarbgarden]

Dd loves visiting gardens. All those little paths to run down and explore, and exciting water features. I'm encouraging her horticultural interest at home as much as possible. She's surprisingly useful at weeding and the flower bed of hardy annuals that she sowed is looking glorious, if a little uneven.

It is our village's horticultural show today. We took dd's little miniature garden that she made at preschool. I was kicking myself for not entering a dish of gooseberries while I was at it.

Got the lawn mowed this morning - surprising amount came off it considering the lack of rain. Now I'm going to get stuck in to the rose dead heading.

[secretscwirrels]

It's easy to encourage horticultural interests when they are little. I used to love that time of year when we could go round shaking seed heads and collecting autumn leaves. Sadly once they hit teenage years they are less easily impressed!
When we go round gardens all the old ladies always comment on how rare it is that a teenage boy is interested.He watches garden programmes with me as well, but his interest is purely theoretical, he's a grunty, room dwelling troll the rest of the time.

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

It's our summer show today, too. I have raked in £3 in prize money.

DD scarcely knows where our garden is, but she gardens enthusiastically at school.

[funnyperson]

Both the DC liked planting out pansies which had finished flowering (my level of gardening ability at that stage) and making dams watering the lawn.
DS grows chilli plants and herbs on his windowsill in hall, DD grows clematis bijou, and helped me plant the vegetable trough, but her main current interest in gardens is to sit in them with friends.
Is one supposed to cut sweet peas, or layer them, or both, and if layer them, how does one do it if they are growing up a tripod?
Happy gardening today. I cut back all the valerian and geraniums and planted 6 of the plants (gillenia trifoliata, clematis Countess of Wessex, an aster and some anchusa left over from Sarah Raven's blue border) .

You lot will scoff, but my delphiniums grown from seed are still in pots because I cant think where to plant them. They need sun, apparently and there is no bit of my garden which has lots of sun except the front and I'm not sure how to support them there (assuming they flower)

[Blackpuddingbertha]

I'm back. A quick once over of the garden before it went dark was both glorious and tragic. My neighbour has seemingly done a great job with watering the veg plot and pots but the bean arch and the long bed have suffered. One end of the long bed is looking unrecoverable but I will drench it tomorrow (DH has promised to go and get me a longer hose so that it reaches to the end) and do some strong hoping that it recovers. I think this week was a tough ask for neighbourly watering stamina.

The veg plot has gone bonkers although loads has bolted. I have lettuces a knee high. The DDs will be happy to do some cropping with me tomorrow but their interest is difficult to hold beyond that. They like exciting bit of gardening.

First raspberry eaten tonight. Although I only have Autumn fruiting canes so I'm a bit , is this normal? Quite a few more coming too.

[secretscwirrels]

My raspberries are summer ones and 2/3 through I would guess. I was thinking of planting some autumn ones but I am surprised they are ready in July! My lettuces are also bolting. I've struggled to get some replacements germinated, I think I will have to resort to planting a box of supermarket living leaves
I am going away for 10 days this week. Neighbour 1 is going to overlap and neighbour 2 is going to cover watering until she gets back. But my beans are all going to be ready in a few days. I have asked neighbour to pick them but she always forgets.