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...

The last fortnight or so has been unseasonably cold here in Melbourne, but much rain, which is good. It made my grapevine sulk a bit, but it's cheered up now and shooting away.

Our first ever crop of broad beans is in. Lovely, and yes, they DO taste better than the shop-bought ones.

We've given up on the turfed area under the washing line - in Aussie style it can't be seen from the house, yet is in a sunny position but abugger to mow. So off with the crappy turf, down with the native mulch, and much planting with marjoram, thyme, sage and geraniums until the autumn when we'll put in some native flowering plants that encourage small birds. The big showy stuff, e.g grevillea "Ned Kelly" brings in more aggressive honeyeaters.

DH emptied the wormery/composter last year and have found three tomato and one cucumber growing in the bags of compost, so carefully lifted them and they're now doing well.

Bertha they are very easy I'll get some in the post :)

did not much gardening as well, just evened out the lawn after the fox has been at it. neighbour has admitted to feeding it... I'm not surprised tbh they are the crazy animal lover kind. though my suspicion is thatthey feed the birds so that the cats have something to play, judging by the remains in the neighbourood

plan for today is to plant the blue roses into pots. Ireallyhope I havebetter luck with them than the pound shop roses. at least they look much greener already.

I got quite a lot done this weekend. Tidied and weeded the border outside the French doors, and planted some of the alliums in there. Cut down a dead plum tree. Cut out dead wood from the remaining ceanothus's in the drive. Strimmed the verge along our bit of the lane, cut out a swathe of snow berries there and sowed foxgloves. Pulled up and composted all the decaying annuals in dd's bed, but held off digging out the weeds that were lurking underneath as the soil is soaking. Hopefully now that annuals have been removed it might dry out a bit.

Not bad considering I had a hangover today!

It was a lovely mild day for gardening today. I cut back some of the perennials (esp the geraniums which were rampant) pruned the apple tree as advised by the man at brogdale, planted the clematis waiting in pots and generally got a fair way towards tidying up the beds. The Peter Beales roses finally arrived. They won't go in till next weekend now because I have to remind myself of my planting plan! I'm beginning to get a bit worried because a lot of the perennials are well and truly dying down, and I haven't left the labels in the ground and I might not remember exactly which variety of whatever is where.I'm at least 2 weeks behind with my gardening and its a bit worrying because not all the bulbs are in yet the garden is clearly beginning to hunker down for the winter.If anyone would like any ceratostigma seeds do pm me.

Wasn't Pete(r) Beales off Eastenders? :o

In a seedworthy moment, I've gathered a box of nasturtium pods to pickle. I don't even like capers much, but do like to use plants. Nasturtiums are very much a late winter/spring plant in Melbourne: the fierce heat does them in later, so gathering now.

Ooh, the first cicadas of the warm season have just kicked off. It's 24 degrees at 8.30.p.m. right now but will be 17 by Wednesday: that'll sort the chirpy feckers out.:o

Is that what capers are, nasturtium pods? I love the sound of cicadas as long as I am in a cool verandah.
T
Peter Beales is a rose grower
The roses I ordered (in June) were nuits de young,Oakley fisher,Rosa magenta and coopers Burmese. As I am back in neon NHS land they are still not planted. It is annoying to get plants quite so late when the household is gearing up (well,meant to be gearing up) for Christmas. It makes me feel like I ought to be giving them away and rather selfishly I don't want to. As I recall, rosa magenta will be planted with the alliums christophii and sanguisorba (which have patiently been waiting for the roses to arrive)

I can't wait for the weekend to get planting, it is quite exciting. I've got a feeling that Mrs Oakley fisher who is quite a stunning orange rose may go in the garden outside the window where dad looks out. Along with a bird feeder.It might be bright enough for him to see it.How are all the babies growing?

Capers are the unripened flower bud of capparis spinosa, but nostrum seed pods, when green can be pickled: they're often called the poor man's caper.

Well I never knew that about nasturtium pods. I shall file that one away for future use.

I watched Friday's GW last night. I loved Monty's fire pit.

Just spent a happy half hour chasing leaves round the garden with my inadequate leaf blower. One day I shall replace it with something with more power, but it'll do for this year.

Just getting back onto the thread.

We had hail here today. Brr.

I didn't know that either, love capers.

Hailed here yesterday too.

Is wood ash any good for the garden? The new woodburner is lit most days now.

I think wood ash is good and coal ash is bad, but am hazy about the details.

My lucky dip plants arrived this morning. I haven't unpacked them properly, but first impressions are that they are good sized plants - there's a huge agapanthus Queen Mum, for example - and in excellent condition, allowing for the fact that the delivery guy held the box upside down. Well worth the slightly less than £2 a plant, as long as I can get them through the winter.

That's very irritating that your poor plants were upside down Maud. I didn't know that about nasturtium pods, my neighbour grows loads. With the wood ash I'm under the same impression as Maud and our wood ash often goes on the compost heap.

Weather here lovely today and I've been pottering in the garden after a trip to the garden center and Camellia nursery. Where our huge conifer came out we've got a spring flowering camellia picked up labeled 'unknown ' in the sale. It's doing really well where it is but the hedge behind is bare for quite a few feet and decided there's room for another having driven past a gorgeous Autumn flowering one the other day.

However, the Autumn flowering ones apparently need to be baked in sun during the summer months to get them to flower. So we came away with one that should have a long flowering season and the woman there said it starts in January in her garden. Picked up a cranberry plant as a present for my neighbour whilst there and am probably going to go back and get a couple of the autumn flowering ones to go in pots as presents as they have BOGOF.

I'm getting the distinct impression my Broad bean seeds might well not be the overwintering variety ...

Interesting about the two flowering seasons of camellias. I didn't know that. We have a Woolworth's camellia given to us as a moving-in present, but it produces one measly flower a year. I keep it only for sentimental reasons.

I didn't know autumn flowering Camellias needed full sun. I put one in the north facing front garden at the last house. It flowered, but not extensively. That must be why.

Going to Great Dixter tomorrow for the Christmas fair. Hurrah!

Ooh. We are going to a lovely Christmas fair tomorrow but I wish we were going to Great Dixter. Have fun!

Some of the masses of nasturtium seed pods have gone into making Pam's piccalilli. A cooking weekend here as DH got stuck into making the Christmas pudding.

A lovely neighbour popped round with some pink-flowering justicia carnera that I'd admired in her garden, but took yonks to take. This makes me feel better about the cuttings I took from my justicia that turned up their toes quick smart.

I'll return her kindliness with some aeonium swartkop as I saw she doesn't have it and it's easy as: snap off a branch, poke it in the soil and stand back.

Echt - how did you cook the broad beans? We grew some that DD brought home from nursery once but I didn't really know what to do with them.

Peter Beale's roses always make me think of EE too. Except it's all wrong as Arthur fowler was the gardener so you'd expect his roses to be much better...

I have finally just about recovered from a nasty winter cold so hit the garden today. I finished planting my spring bulbs (anemone, little pink alliums, freesia, tulips tarda and oxalis - at least I think, the labels had all got mixed up). I spread some chipped bark mulch around to hopefully keep the weeds at bay and throw the squirrels off the scent of the bulbs. I think the bastards have already made away with my posh tulips.

I kept finding mounds of non smelly squiggly looking brown stuff, which I thought was squirrel poo. DH says its actually worm mounds. Do you think he's right? Does this mean my thick clay soil is improving?

I've dismantled the tent like green house frames I had over the raised veg beds and put those away for winter. Do you think it's worth covering the beds with old carpet over winter to keep out weeds/cats?

We had roast dinner with roast pumpkin grown in my very own veg patch, yum. I also made some chicken & pumpkin soup, which looks like the sort of thing I used to make and freeze into ice cub trays to wean the DD... Not quite so yum!

Well Great Dixter was lovely, but the children were horrid in high maintenance mode so I didn't get to look round as thoroughly as I'd have liked. Fantastic to see inside the house though - glorious ceilings. The garden was beautiful, considering it is November, with lots of architectural grasses, cardoons and rosehips. It was interesting to have a nose round the exotic garden to see all the tender bananas etc carefully wrapped up in straw jackets for the winter.

I could have spent a lot longer there, but, well, bloody kids...

Had good gardening day but everything still not planted.Raked up lots of gold and orange Autumn leaves which reflected the light. Very pleasant. The robin came to say hello.
Perhaps the children thought the christmas fair at Gt Dixter would involve santa's grotto.
A friend died of cancer. The electrician hasn't done the lights so I can't put the new wallpaper up or order the new carpet so the house will not sparkle for christmas. Woe is me. I might hibernate for a few months.

Sorry to hear about your friend, funny

Funny

Borrowed next door's leaf blower and did the front garden. So much kinder on the back than raking. Also made DH bring me barrows of compost and leaf mould and mulched half the long bed. Then the Sunday roast needed attention so had to stop. Feel better for getting some done though.

We're also enjoying the oca harvest. If the first row is anything to go by I think we'll have 6-8 kilos in total. Wynken, as the resident oca expert, how long can I leave them in the ground and how do I store some for planting next year?

Sorry to hear that funny

Sorry to hear about your friend, funnyperson.