…if winter comes, can Spring be far behind? 2014 beckons us...

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Okay, so the height of summer is yet to scorch the nethers of those in this wide brown land of Orstrylia, but welcome to the MNettie gardeners of the world. Prop up your sagging fences, evict the rats from your decking, and find a use for that poinsettia.

It has been a lovely gardening day here too. I raked a bed of fine tilth and thought of Lexi and sowed grass seeds on the verges outside mums house where the lorries from the water board have been turning all winter. I trod the seed in like Monty does. If the birds eat it all I will sow meadow flowers on the grounds the birds are less likely to eat those (is this likely do you think?)
Half my lawn is thriving: the other half is patchy likes yours maud and definitely has had wildlife of some sort trekking round it. Tomorrow I plan to rake in a mixture of compost and seed. If it doesn't work this year then next year the patchy bit is going to be crocuses. Camomile didn't work on that spot last year.
Everyone's hellebores sound good. I am going to move some and divide some when they finish flowering. At present I have a one-of-each-sort type planting which is cheerful but not artistic. I am going to go for burgundy in one border and the ivory/green ones in the other which leaves the pink ones near the japonica and I will plant some massive green ones with them to provide continuity. In fact I'm wondering whether to divide them while they are still flowering because then I know what colour they are.
Piet Oudolph books have arrived. He deplores colour schemes apparently. Hah.

Monty is back next friday at 8.30!

Oh yes, Monty's return might prove to be the highlight of my week.

Monty! Spring has definitely sprung if Monty et al are back in our lives.

Yes, it will be good to see Carol too.

Carol! Yes it will be good to have Carol back.

I have done no gardening. Perfect storm here of chicken pox and in-laws staying has almost broken me. Good to read of others' hard work and emerging springiness.

Oh dear, Rhubarb. Are the in laws pitching in to help, or is that not how things work?

Aren't the in-laws afraid of shingles etc? Amazed that they've come when the children are ill and convalescing. The norm is to stay away at such times. But when did families ever stick to 'the norm'? No wonder that you are shattered. You must want to be with your little ones when they are poorly, not cooking for the guests. I'm always surprised by how much people take mums for granted.

Oh no rhubarbgarden. You have had a rotten time recently with children being ill. I hope they are on the mend and that you get a bit of a rest soon.

Thanks all. The in-laws are pitching in but they are also doing helpful things like setting off the burglar alarm we have never used and so have no code for, and binning the cat's medicine syringe by mistake. Aargh.

Apparently you can't catch shingles from chicken pox, though you can do the reverse.

They go back today and the dcs are pretty much better now so hopefully back to normality this week.

Shingles is reactivated by stress and low immunity and old age (over 50) and immunosuppressants and contact with other infections which cause stress. I expect your in-laws are too healthy to be too worried.
Hope you have a lovely day today.
I'm cross with myself now for all the years I spent sharing my children with in laws and my parents instead of spending precious free time with them as a nuclear family. Now they are older they are under the impression that the only good times were with grandparents. and it affects our bond as now they have left home it is just too late to go back. All those stupid bank holidays on large family outings.

Oh funny that's sad. I shall try to learn from your words. I tend to try to escape my children whenever I get chance. Opportunities are rare though; in-laws live abroad and my own family have little interest.

Good morning everyone!

Wishing you all a lovely day in the garden!
Enjoyed catching up on the thread and hearing about all the progress!

Rhubarb sorry the little ones are ill and you have visitors to cope with too!

I'm at home visiting my mother, but hoping to get back in time to repot my baby Christmas trees. DH has finally gotten around to drilling holes in the Aldi planters.

I have a flurry of crocuses that have come up in pots and late planted muscari and daffodils that are sprouting promisingly.

The digger arrived and has wreaked havoc on the trees and bushes and brambles and has transformed the site and widened the road approaching our house. I cried when I saw the 'damage' he caused, and all the little homeless birds wondering what was going on. Nothing has been disturbed or built on our lane for about 150 yrs! Still, it does look much better, and something had to be done. It just seems so drastic....sigh. I really hate change! Still, hopefully I'll be starting the garden by summer!

Bumbez how can I see the photo of your greenhouse? Do I need to go onto the computer (I mostly use the app!)???

Funny don't be too hard on yourself It was wonderful for your children to have their grandparents involved so much. I'm sure they appreciate you were there too for all those happy occasions!

Thanks :)

I agree with Castle that you shouldn't be too hard on yourself Funny: you gave them a happy childhood, and that is what matters.

And rhubarb, I can understand why you need time away at the moment, as little children are so demanding. I felt the same, and I didn't even look after BabyBearleigh full-time. It got to be a pleasure when he got a bit older. Now it's great as he likes growing vegetables, so helps me in the garden, so we spend quite a lot of time together there.

Did anyone catch Monty on Desert Island discs this morning? It was a repeat, from quite a while ago, on Radio 4 Extra, and I think will still be available on iPlayer. What a lovely chap.

We went to Wisley earlier today. I couldn't understand why they had men directing traffic and why there was so much so early. Then we noticed the butterflies are still in the glasshouse, so there were lots of excited small people queuing (70mins!). It was generally looking lovely though, and there are lots of winter interest areas and scented shrubs aplenty.

And they have plugs of really good varieties of geraniums, fuchsias etc for pots, 10 for £10, which is my sort of bargain. I got two fuchsia Thalia plugs within my 10. She is one of my favourite plants, and is great for pots in the shade in summer, but is usually hard to find and expensive.

It is free entry this Friday!

so, the dc have sown:
sunflowers, sweetcorn and tomatoes.

want to do the carrots on kitchen paper in a few weeks time and the courgettes when it's warmer.

do you think I could use balcony boxes (those large rectangular ones, 20cm deep) for carrots and parsnips?

I can relate to that a bit funny we have only once spent christmas as a family as we usually are at my parent's or inlaws.

Thanks for the rose info Funny :) I need to decide where they are all going soon - at the moment they are still in the back of the van!

Monty back on tele - hurrah! I watched his Italian Gardens on BBC2 this morning as I didn't much like it hte first time around. It's more of a relaxed Saturday morning type programme I think, it just can't compete with the freneticism of GW on a Friday night!

I love hearing everyone's garden progress. Spring is on its way! :)

The weather ruined my gardening plans today as I had to admit defeat, however, I did get broad beans, some climbing beans, nasturtiums, tomatoes, chillies, sweet peas, & coriander sown. Starting to fill up my heated greenhouse spare bedroom.

Mousmous, you could do carrots in those boxes but in my experience parsnips need more depth. Maybe baby parsnips might be possible though.

You lot have been busy! I watched Monty's programme on Italian gardens this morning and it got me thinking how wonderful it must be to see the country landscape from the garden- castleough perhaps this is what will happen now your boundaries are less 'cluttered'. You might have to plant something for the birds to nest in though.
I cleared up more leaves and debris from the lawn and beds: didn't get round to any sowing and planting as it all took longer than expected. It was nice to uncover some flowering anemones and another little tiny flowering hellebore and a little violet.

I restocked on the bits and bobs I need to finish revamping the pots and window boxes, but by the time we got home it was too wet to work outside. I'm hoping for a dry spell tomorrow as I have definitely got the gardening bit between my teeth now!

For anyone at home during the week, BBC2 (or 3?) is reshowing the Great British Garden Revival at about 9.05am in the morning, or at least they were last week.

Excellent, thanks for the tip Maud, have set the box-thing to record it.

I managed to squeeze in half an hour's weeding this afternoon, after the in-laws had left and before the weather turned. Then decided to crack on with my redesign. Found some significant errors in the measurements of the survey, which throws the whole thing out. Emailed the guy to ask him to come back to check his measurements and re-draw the survey plan, but I don't know how he'll feel about that considering it's six months since he did it.

Glad to be of help!

Has anyone got any exciting ideas for permanent(ish) planting in a hanging basket? I have a heavy, antique-looking basket which hangs in the apple tree as I think it would pull any bracket off the wall. I want to plant it with something that will last more than one season but am lacking in inspiration. Obviously, it will be quite shaded by the foliage in summer and hangs above the predominantly black/white border so those are my parameters. Any ideas?

Many thanks to whoever recommended Aldi for gardening goodies. I have never been to Aldi but tracked down our nearest one to go and have a look and left with a magnolia stellata (rather rashly, as my previous two died), a lemon tree and a big tub of pelleted chicken manure.