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...

Hope they germinate Rhubarb!

Anyone who watched GW on Friday, you know what Carol Klein did with that leggy, woody heather... am I right that you can do the same with other similar plants, in particular I mean lavender and rosemary... also perhaps hebe?

(tsk tsk - please mentally insert comma where appropriate. Astrantia seeds unlikely to become Rhubarb plant!)

Lexi, I was distracted at that point in GW and when I looked back she'd buried the whole thing and I had no idea why! DH and I did this face at each other. What was the explanation behind it?

It's a form of layering propagation (when does CK do a segment that doesn't have some form of propagation in it??!). All the stems around that sort of halo would become new plants in some unspecified period of time.

Rake - thank you so much for the seeds

I had a beautifully wrapped delivery from Burncoose nurseries today: 3 plants of Acanthus mollis, Garya Elliptica, 2 fuschias and an autumn flowering camellia. Also some nice new gardening Briers gloves from Amazon- in a very tasteful green and white which demanded to be muddied.
So as it had stopped raining, I got up from my boring armchair and dosed myself up with painkillers and raked the garden leaves and swept the patio and mowed the lawn and pruned back some of the perennials which are beginning to go over and after that the garden looked a bit more like a garden again.
I put all the plants to be planted on the garden table (includes the Sanguisorba and Clematis Wisley cream) and all the bulbs to be planted in a box, and tidied up the seed trug and discovered some unposted digitalis alba seeds which are on their way finally!
Various cuttings seems to be thriving.
I'm thinking of planting groups of plants which flower at the same time all together within the borders- so there is a little group of spring flowering and then a group of Autumn flowering plants rather than dotting the plants all over. So I will put the fuschia with the sedums and dahlias. The Wisley Cream clematis will go near the winter jasmine, with Hellebores and crocuses.
I know it is possible to 'layer' planting so that the same patch of ground flowers all through the seasons. but apart from planting spring bulbs in the shade of perennials before the perennials come into their full foliage, I am not sure how this works.

I'm still a bit anxious about all the plants though. The mowing and raking was done without bending over. I may end up having to put them all in pots till the spring.

As for Garya Elliptica, I'm trying to decide whether it will thrive under the oak canopy in the far corner of the garden (which is where I had originally planned it to go) or whether (because the label says sun) it should go somewhere else entirely.

I thought the Makepeace garden was interesting because the wife's more traditional flower garden looked so different to all the grasses. In some ways grasses must be quite satisfying to plant because one never has angst when they fail to flower.

I love Burncoose, and I love Garrya elliptica. In my experience it's fine in shade, up to a point - so north facing wall no problem, but I'm not sure about under a dense oak canopy. Does it get any light at all?

I got my three hours in the garden this afternoon. It was gloriously sunny and warm, but I didn't get the alliums planted. I started tidying the border that they are to go in (or at least some of them) and got completely sidetracked cutting brambles and other feral beasts out from underneath the big bay tree at the end. This always happens. I start with one task in mind and end up doing something else completely; usually something less of a priority. It's a bit frustrating but was still a lovely afternoon. Like coming up for air.

I love child free afternoons

I'm hoping to get some garden me tomorrow as I have a relatively quiet day work wise. Need to, the garden's looking distinctly untidy.

Lexi, just noticed you've reverted back to your previous name. In my head you always were Lexi so didn't notice straight away!

'time', not 'me'

Maybe I'll plant and train the Garrya Elliptica against the tall 10 foot shady wall nearer the house. I was reading up and see that the longest flowers are from the male of the 'James Roof' variety, and I forgot to specify 'male' in my order but I'm hoping the nursery will have sent me a male plant anyway.
Yes I invariably find I get side tracked by pruning and tidying before I plant anything. The best way to psyche myself up to planting is to place the plant in its pot in the spot where I think it should go, and after some weeks of moving it around to the best spot, eventually it sits there demanding to be planted. Its quite a slow process.

Checked the label. Brilliant. Male form of the 'James Roof' variety all the way from Redruth in Cornwall. Needs a sunny sheltered spot. Thank you Burncoose nurseries.

I have a 101 jobs that need getting on with in the garden but yet again it is raining and nothing will get done.

Alitex keep spamming me. I'm feeling sorely tempted to let them come here to 'discuss my requirements' as they are so keen, and get a quote for my dream greenhouse. It doesn't matter that I don't have the cash for one at the moment does it? It's a long term process isn't it? Good to have in mind what's involved and a clear picture of costs for pipe dreams long term budgeting. Or AIBU?

I'm not sure about the whole marketing thing, even for greenhouses. I'm doing my tax returns and seem to have rather a large number of gardening related receipts. I have gone over budget. As with Amazon. The royal mail windfall can't cover it all. From now on I will have to be frugal. Only self propagated plants allowed. I am writing this down so that when I refer back I will see I wrote it. If I go to Chelsea next year I will not buy a thing.

have lots of things planned for the weekend, including restoring the lawn where the fox has dug. huge area all lawn scratched away. the fox was not impressed by me chasing it in my dressing gown with my hairbrush!

What were you going to do to it with your hairbrush? If hairbrush threats work against a fox digging then I may have to try it out on my dog.

:o
will see if it works. but I guess the kilo of chilli powder works better. and it might fertilise the lawn (or what is left of it)

Funny person, do keep the rise spray nearby in the spring! Garrya can be a devil for blackspot. In my area anyway.

About layer planting, FP, I think it works better with some than others. Especially perennials which can be cut back early on, such as poppies.

Christopher Lloyd talks about it a lot, but it sounds like a faff anyway. Lots of digging up and moving to spare ground and succession planting in its place. Even he says it's lots of work, and does not always work out in a satisfactory way.

Personally , I'm learning to like decay.

on the lawn note, can I sow new lawn now or do I need to wait until spring? or should I just go for rolled lawn?
and most importantly, how do I stop the fox digging it all up again?

and remind me to not touch my eyes after sprinkling chilli in the garden

Regarding lawns I can share with you that my opposite neighbour, who is a sorted and sprightly young thing (originally hailing from Totnes) sowed front lawn seeds 6 weeks ago, and protected them from birds with an arrangement of sticks and string at 3-6 ins above ground level. She has just mowed for the first time, and I am very impressed, and now see where I have previously failed in this area, since the birds must have eaten any seeds I sowed. Whether it is too late to sow lawn seeds now or not depends on where you are and the likelihood of frost. I would be slightly inclined, given foxes and so forth, to compost the area, but then perhaps you would like a green sward over the winter, which seems not unreasonable.
I am posting far too much on this thread but from next week I am back at work and everyone else can heave a sigh of relief.

Now is a good time to sow lawns. To stop birds helping themselves, cover the seeded areas with horticultural fleece and peg it down at the corners until the seeds germinate. I did this with the bed I sowed with hardy annuals this year too and it worked a treat.