Potting shed summer party

[Blackpuddingbertha]

Following on from the Blooming into Flaming June thread and all others before it.

The potting shed is open for summer. Elderflower wine aplenty and room for all. Monty will be along later...

Bearleigh although I would love to come I don't think I can work the logistics of it with DH being away

Multum I don't think anyone actually has soil like Monty's in real life.

Hello... Still pregnant, grrr.

Loved GW on Friday (or rather, Saturday morning with a cup of tea). I am minded to write in and sympathise re the asparagus - mine were awful, but they are in one of those canvas tall planters so not really equivalent conditions to Monty's carefully prepared bed.

Just been outside and had a little blitz and shocked myself at how much I could apparently do... I must have been malingering the past few months!! I have dug up an acanthus mollis (spare shoots available) and an alchemilla mollis (divisions available), and moved the remaining halves over to the side of the garden that was supposed to be veggies but never got anything planted this year. I pulled some dead leaves of autumn crocus and accidentally pulled up a bulb, so I've potted that too. I had verbena bonariensis popping up all over the garden so have tried to consolidate those in the purple corner. DH has been pressure washing the deck so we both got a bit mucky, and now he doesn't want so many of my pots back on the deck to try to avoid it getting gacky again. We may have to discuss the relative importance of herb pots vs clean surfaces further...

Rake, you are nesting in your garden! It must be any time soon.

DH found MASSIVE caterpillars all over one of the birch trees. They are the biggest I have ever seen and they have eaten a lot of the tree They are Buff Tips (thank goodness for google).

Sat in the garden today with all of my family, it was lovely.

Rhubarb I have sent you a personal message re Monty (I hope).

I am very impressed by all your hard work Tynefilth, in your condition...

Has anyone else had a burst of sluggy activity, or is it possibly because our new neighbours have cats. We have noticed we are getting fewer birds who may have been eating the slugs?

Sorry TyneFilth, I promise not to whisper again and patiently wait for announcements

We had had a lot of sluggy/snaily activity while we were on holiday. I was so proud of my eucomis - first time I've grown them - and the foliage has been shredded.

oh what a shame

it is gutting when that happens.

Yes, they are no longer exhibit-worthy. I am wreaking my revenge with the environmentally-friendly slug pellets.

How are your rolling acres today?

they are rolling with wasps! Millions of the buggers.

Yikes! Do you have lots of overripe fruit attracting them?

have just been to a garden show in germany today. my feet are hurting and the dc were so tired they fell asleep in the car and we only carried them to bed as they were.
a bit dissapointed that there were no 'designer gardens', it was mainly country zones and zones of colours/textures.
par of the exhibition was and old disused church and graveyards. stonemasons and gardeners had designec a few hundred different grave stones and graves. interesting as it's mini gardens with a sculpture.
no big plant sale.

mouseymouse you did something active and outgoing. That is good.

Well, I now see why Monty cuts off seed heads straight into the envelopes when collecting seed. I proudly cut off my digitalis alba spire, brimming with ripe seed heads, and carried it over to the garden table whence the envelopes lay, to discover that even the act of cutting off one seed head resulted in thousands of tiny seeds just bursting out onto the table! What I thought was a seed was actually a container for a thousand of them! Anyway, now I know, and henceforth will take my envelopes to the plant. Though how to post without the seeds leaking out is another conundrum.

it was good, could have stayed much longer.
saw many dahlias and rose gardens. my favourite rose rosa novalis
I'm already thinking were this could go in my garden.
also looking for a currant bush and tulip bullbs.

That is a very lovely rose, MousyMouse.

Carol snips off her seedheads into brown paper bags, I think, funnyperson. I need to find some nice needs to offer in the potting shed seed swap!

I can offer up cosmos seed. And various salad greens but not sure if they'll come true. May also try and collect some marigold seeds too. Was letting some self-seeded borage in the lawn go over for seed too but DH mowed it tonight .

no overipe fruit yet, but the wasps definitely go for the flowers on the virginia creeper. It is positively HUMMING with them. But they eat horsefly larva so I am reconciled to their presence.

That is truly beautiful Mousymouse.

Tulip bulbs are late in the shops this year. According to Jaques Amand (local bulb experts) it is because the foliage died down later because of the late spring. So there are lots of allium bulbs (cos they seeded early because of the warm weather) but the tulips and lilies and irises and others are a bit late.

That's interesting, funnyperson. I will be trying very hard not to buy any more tulip bulbs, as I want fewer pots on the patio, but I suspect that once I've cleared out the summer bedding I'll find it hard to resist!

Maud, how nice to see that I'm not on my own with periodic bouts of pot removals. Replaced by others far too soon.:o

My current transitory pot is the brown boronia, a plant I've never seen in the UK, and bogging difficult to grow in its native land. It's bought as an annual shrub, if there is such a thing. The perfume is astounding, powerful lilac/violet tones, and along with the lemon-scented gum, the quintessentially Australian smell. Spring is springing here - some late narcissi have flowered, and filled the front garden with their heady pong.

I did get rid of several pots a few years ago, but know that once some of the summer pots have been emptied I won't be able to resist the urge to buy more bulbs to fill them. I must remind myself that less is more!

My cheapo wilko greenhouse was delivered this morning so i need to find a spare day to get it made up or and twist one of my sons arms to get him to help me.

I have also had a pot disaster this week as the cat managed to knock a pot off its base and it smashed. The chocolate cosmos broke and the Polemonium caeruleum is all bashed about. I have moved both into the garden, given a good water and feed and am now hoping for the best.

My first bulb orders have arrived. Yet more tulips which i am not sure where i am going to plant yet and i also have been in poundland buying daf bulbs at a £ a bag.I still have yet more tulips, dafs and alliums on order so there is just a slight risk of me yet again going a bit mad on spring bulbs.

But spring bulbs are always so cheering, cantspel. You can't go wrong.

one of the flowers I really liked that I saw yesterday was Cosmos atrosanguineus
I hope to get some for my garden, they look and smell amazing.

and yes to spring bulbs.
I need many to bridge between the bluebells and the roses!