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...

I'm not sure that chilli powder should be sprinkled on the ground. In the October winds, it could be scattered everywhere. It isn't child and bird friendly.
I don't know what deters foxes- however we had what I used to think was a fox track, and high trellis either side has stopped it. Snow will be the real revealer though, as that is when all fox tracks become apparent.
Regarding decay: as a student, wandering through Regents Park at all seasons I first discovered that gardens never really stop growing. Trees have buds on after the leaves have fallen, perennials start growing upwards from the ground once the summer leaves wither, bulb shoots show from late autumn onwards. I was absolutely amazed. Agreed, it is a southern spot, protected by London buildings and so warmer than the rest, but still.
The current P of W has formalised the avenue down by Great Portland St with Linden trees, but it remains a pleasant place to walk.

the chilli didn't deter the fox much.
it didn't dig where the chilli was on the lawn, but basically everywhere else. including the flower beds and veg patch.
it's a mess.

I was told about a grass seeding method where you pre-germinate the grass seed before you scatter it. Will see if I can find out more about it to post that might actually be useful

My white solanum vine is flowering on the patio. Think it's rather late but it's very pretty. It's grown very vigorously and has covered the wall which was the plan, so all good. Not sure how it will fare over winter though.

I loved that Rosa moyesii that Monty just showed.

It's a bit chilly in this potting shed tonight. Anyone else fancy a nip of sloe gin to the warm the cockles?

hic

::Turns up too late for the sloe gin::

Drat. See you tomorrow everyone.

Ah, sloe gin. I remember picking sloes on the IOW years ago and making the gin. You can get sloe gin here at a ruinous price, but not the sloes. I suspect Victoria is too warm and that Tasmania would be the place.
Bertha my white solanum is flowering, too, though it never really stops here, just slows down a bit in winter.

Today I sorted out a dendrobium kingiana that didn't flower this year, and pulling it out of the pot showed it was too wet, so no surprise. I rewarded its recalcitrance with an axe to divide it and re-potted in to three smaller ones - always keeping them crowded. Let's see if that works.

I tried one of those gardening things you can see if you watch very late night tv: the upside down tomato grower. At $4 from the Reject Shop it's worth a go. Now I have to persuade DH to get on a ladder and put hooks in the beams of the carport so they can hang out.

The rest of today was spent spray painting a wicker chair from a garage sale; this will be part of outdoor setting under the carport, what with the grapevine taking off and the tomato thingies, it'll be Greek/Italian-stylee. Very Melbourne. :o

Very warm today at 27, and with a high wind makes me feel for the poor buggers in NSW.

oh yes, we went sloe picking when I was a child.
we didn't make gin (I think) but jelly from them.
I remember biting into one and my head turning itself inside out or so it felt
we put them in the freezer for a day before processing, apparently that does something to the sugar in them.

I'm off to the garden centre later to get loads of fox repellant, string, lawn seed....and will let the dc loose to put the tulip bulbs in.

I've picked sloes once with the intention of making gin - they stayed in the freezer for a few months about a year till I threw them out

I haven't done any gardening for a few weeks- need to cut down the tomatoes, plant the rest of the alliums, and a couple of new rose bushes (cheap as chips in Aldi)

First to catch up with Monty :)

Interesting re protecting grass seed, the last time we sewed a lawn the birds had the lot. They were very organised too, a group of starlings formed a long line and moved forwards, it reminded me of policemen looking for clues.

Sowed (there was no needle and thread)!

Ok, further info about pre-germinating grass seed - apparently if you mix your seed with damp compost and leave in the compost bag for a couple of days it starts to germinate. You then scatter the contents and the birds aren't that interested and the grass has a head start. Not sure it would be that useful for a large area but a few square metres may be worth the trouble.

Still have to catch up with Monty and I missed the potting shed party.

Hello all. Not a lot going on here. Baby permanently attached to boob (so it feels like) doesn't allow much gardening and in any case it has been raining heavily most days this week. I have alliums and Russian snowdrops inside the back door asking to be planted, uprooted summer bulbs and a Deutzia outside the front door asking to be potted, and two bags of potting compost in the living room waiting for DH to ask me to sow herbs in a windowsill propagator (his early birthday present in August, and his birthday was a week ago).

Also loved the rosa moyesii! That is just my kind of rose. I wonder if I could have that with my purple clematis (yet to be planted out) and rosa 'open arms' covering the nasty chain link fence along my front garden boundary with my neighbours. They have parked their latest vehicle (a bright red Transit that has seen better days and I would give level odds of having a valid MOT) quite close against this fence. It does not go with my purple perennial geraniums, pink perennial sweet peas, or solanum glasnevin at all (but they have all finished flowering so it is all just green along there. Hmph.)

Have never had sloe gin. Does it dispense with the requirement for tonic? I have on the go a large amount of (foraged) blackberry brandy/vodka and have started an elderberry gin, which I need to add more elderberries and more gin and sugar to, in order that I have a full Kilner jar infusing. Made (cultivated) blackberry and apple jam last week, successfully. When I get some more jars from my mother I'll use the rest of my foraged elderberries and her apples to make more jam. I am never confident that its going to set when using lower pectin fruit like blackberries, so I chuck in extra pectin from a bottle (Certo) and I think the batch I just did are rather over-set. Won't be entering any village shows, anyway.

have worked on the lawn this afternoon, hope it works and the fox doesn't come back and ruins it all. my go for ready rolled lawn if that's the case.
on my profile a picture of the 'laser maze' as dc called it.
at least the neighbouring cats are not impressed by the obstruction of their highway!

Your trip wires should certainly help, Mousy.

Lexi those baby-clamped-to-boob days feel like yesterday. Hard work. I dreamed I was broody last night. When dd came charging into our bedroom this morning shouting 'Wakey time!' I was sniffing a baby sock in my head. But it only took Dd and ds about five minutes to beat any nostalgic notions out of me!

I spent today at my drawing board, grappling with uncooperative geometry and what turns out to be an inaccurate garden survey to try to find my lines for planning the garden. Didn't get very far with it.

Today we went upstate to an open garden in Euroa, a part of Victoria I hadn't been to. Think dramatic hill with granite outcrops, but gum trees instead of deciduous. The draw was it hadn't been open in 25 years. A pleasant place, though not stately homes standards; it's still a personal home, but the drama of the granite-strewn hills was amazing. The blue haze from Sydney's bush fires, hundreds of kilometres away, was a sad note though.

The most exciting thing was the wildlife: the road was unfortunately well-populated with kangaroos that had come off worst trying to cross the Hume Highway, but at about 9.00. a.m. we saw a live one, considering the odds on the side of the road. They mostly lie low during the day, so although there are lots of them, you don't see them much.

Utterly charming was going along the road to the open garden. and seeing an echidna bustling along the verge in broad daylight, again a fairly common animal you rarely see.

Sorry this is not plant-related, but DH and I were thrilled to bits, and I had to share.

Oh echidnas are wonderful! You are very lucky. Australia has some amazing animals.

Calming down a bit from the marsupial-related tizz, I planted some oca tubers grown from a single plant last year. Also tied-in a rather vigorous bougainvillea onto the garage wall. God, the thorns.

Lots of droopy plants as it hit 30 today, and at 9.10. now, it's still 20. Time to trip off for a bed-time read. Nighty night.

been to the park, glorious sunshine, collecting maroons. had them for lunch. yum.
now the rain is back.
fox didn't dig over night, so I keep my fingers crossed!

what are maroons? can you eat them?

maroons are chestnuts, the kind you eat in winter after roastubg them over fire.

I read that as macaroons - now that's something I'd like to go collecting!

I'm sure you could grind them up and use them as 'flour' for macaroons. they are sometimes used as gluten free flour substitute.