…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.

Sounds wonderful Maud :) I bought another three trays of their seedling pot thingies that sit in a sort of frame/carrier, so much easier for planting out (I'm not very good at thinning and transplanting stuff).

God, I cannot wait until the 2 wks Easter hols - that is my next big gardening window, apart from weekends obviously....

I am wondering about replanting all my herbs as my current raised bed out back has gradually got wetter and wetter, and now we have rushes growing in it!
Plan is to scrape the sloping bank that runs down onto it, plant cotoneaster all over it, dig out the beds, re-fill them with topsoil, manure, some grit perhaps, and then replant them with herbs. It gets sun about half of the day. Any tips/warnings?

It was wonderful. I'm wondering whether I should go back to get one of the big plastic terracotta-lookalike pots, as it would be ideal for the Christmas tree. If I put it in a genuine terracotta pot, dh may slip a disc trying to carry it into the house next Christmas.

I didn't see the seedling pot contraption, but it sounds intriguing. Do you have a picture of it?

I'm not the best person to advise on herbs, as I have never managed to get my herb pots (the multi-holed sort) to take off. All I can suggest is don't let mint (which tolerates shade) overrun the beds and be wary of anything that needs full sun.

Ah Maud, I am one of the many Aldi fans out there! I actually bought two of the big plastic terracotta pots for two Christmas trees. (I bought one for my classroom at school and one for the pub DH leases, which left me with two homeless Christmas trees after Christmas!) Somebody here suggested planting into larger pots as opposed to into the garden and I am so happy with the outcome! Actually re-potted today!
Go for it!

Wish I wasn't broke as a lemon tree sounds fantastic!!!

Hello again, fell off the thread... Maud, have you thought about either trailing strawberries or Tumbling Tom mini tomatoes for your hanging baskets?

I have not planted much out yet: put some little chard seedlings under cloches in my raised beds, but it's new for me so no idea if they will take. It is cropping time for my purple sprouting broccoli (yay!) and lo, it is yummy. And have just planted in willow sticks for (hopefully) a green willow screen and some basketry willow if they all take. And have a willow playden put up for the DC which is hopefully going to grow leafy, it's between my rather aged forsythia and the oak tree....I have planted so many things (climbers, new fruit trees, hebe shrubs from Aldi!) it's all very exciting and hopefully they will all burst forth very soon and make the garden lovely to be in.

Lemon trees! They look seriously cool (they have some in the glass house at Wisley). Must resist!

Seeing my rhubarb reappear has reminded me that I first joined this thread for rhubarb advice !

I've worked all weekend so no gardening, and housework catch up today. Dh did plant the Rhaspberries though and my manure order got delivered. I am the proud owner of 20 bags of horseshit

Dc's eyes always glaze over when I talk gardening so I was particularly delighted when dd1 bought me a gardeners world magazine and wants to sow the free poppy seeds!

Other news secondary school offers in dd1 didn't get first choice but has been offered a music scolarship at a brand new free school.

Hmm. The hanging basket does not get enough sun for tomataoes to ripen well and it did have strawberries one year, but they died of drought (as it does not get watered often as that means trampling on the bed).

Excellent news about Bumbez's dd's music scholarship.

castle I don't know, is it a phone app? I only mumsnet on iPad as crap eye sight ! Try a different app?

Awe thanks Maud.

I had great success 1 year with tumbling toms in a hanging basket, I'm going to try again this year.

I'm also planning to put the darker variety of nasturtiums in a basket .

Hello everyone
just been catching up with the thread. You have all been busy. Hope the dc are better now Rhubarb. Congratulations on the scholarship Bumbez.

I would plant ivy in the hanging basket. I see that this may not be for everyone, but it looks great all through the year and no dead heading necessary. It will tolerate drought reasonably well, don't you think? I saw some hanging baskets planted up with heuchera at a rather nice pub last year, they looked rather good too.

Oh yes, strawberries and Tumbling Toms can work well in hanging baskets, but this just isn't the right location for them.

I suppose I could try Empress of India nasturtiums as they are so dark I could pretend they are 'black', for my black and white theme.

posted too soon. Have booked dh to look after the baby tomorrow morning so that I can get on with sowing tomatoes, cornflowers, calendula, rocket, sorrel, cosmos and courgettes. Lots of others too, I can't think what they are now.

Yes, Humph, I think ivy will be my default option. I am already trying heuchera and violas in another hanging basket in another spot, but it's been a bit underwhelming. Sadly, as heucheras are one of my new plant obsessions.

don't they look good? what a shame.

I have been digging up lots of ivy plants from the borders and putting them in pots to go in various corners. I haven't succeeded in killing one yet .

The main problem is that the violas have been so battered by the incessant rain and look very bedraggled, but the heuchera hasn't taken off in the way I would have hoped. Maybe it will have a growth spurt, now the weather's a bit warmer.

::optimist::

How's the baby?

I did a layered planting with bulbs, violas and ivy, now the narcissi are coming through they are looking better . Is it too late to poke some bulbs in?

The baby is great thanks! We are all still a bit traumatised after having his upper lip and tongue tie snipped, the op went fine but the stretches are gruesome.

Still he can blow a raspberry now and latch on correctly, which is obviously a good thing.

My heuchera all look v bedraggled too.

I would go for it Bumbez. Can't hurt, can it?

We have ordered the mulch, given that there is no way the drainage work is going to be done any time soon, it doesn't matter if a truckload of mulch gets in the way of the digger.

That sounds pretty traumatic for you all Humph

I got the Heuchura bug last year when I discovered how easy it is to make baby heuchura.

Aldi is calling but I am trying not to spend money right now as I have put in an offer on a little plant nursery. Very early days so please keep your fingers crossed. It's dependent on whether the landlord will do a long enough lease which everyone says he will. Off to see solicitor in a minute to pay for the searches. It will be a very very steep learning curve but I am up for the challange

OMG how exciting

fingers, toes etc all crossed

oh wow wynken , how exciting. good luck!

I stare look at my rhubarb and seed trays every day willing them to grow, but nothing visible yet (only seeded/planted saturday)

Wynken - How exciting! When it's open, the charabanc will have to take a diversion on its way to Humphrey's and we can stock up! What are your top tips for making baby heucheras?

Well, my morning started badly as I couldn't do my class at the gym because they had run out of towels (I always use one of theirs because I have enough damp laundry festooned around the house, without damp gym towels). But I have consoled myself with an alchemilla mollis and an astilbe from Lidl - two supermarket gardening hits in two days - and have been having a nice, sunny potter in the garden. I took down the lacklustre hanging basket and discovered the reason the heuchera looked so poorly is that something - mice? squirrel? rot? - had severed it at compost level. I have replaced the heuchera with one of those that didn't get planted last year and shoved in the ivy that I rescued from the basket arrangement I bought in dear old Lidl at Christmas. Fingers crossed this time.

Thank you, the Charabanc will be most welcome . Solicitor thinks we'll have a better idea end of next week about the lease. Mum's house is under offer so my life is currently involving lots of paperwork and solicitor conversations / trips which is hindering my gardening.

With heuchura I found much better results with those I split in the spring compared with the autumn. Basically a sharp knife, get a bit of root and a leaf ( you don't need much), replant and water and they established into decent sized plants by the summer.

I am going to have a go at that asap Wynken.

Had a blissful time in the garden, sowed lots of seeds and potted on the salvia cuttings. I have eight nice plants for the front garden, along with some pineapple sage cuttings which I will grow as big as possible in pots so that I can put them in when I cut the geraniums and alchemilla mollis back.

I am trying to grow tomatoes from seed for the first time. They are on the window sill at the moment.

That is really exciting Wynken :)

I've been back to Aldi to return something . Lots of Hostas fell in to my basket 99p for 2. I'm not sure whether to risk just planting them out or go for pots.

Just realised that the greenhouse is pretty full but I have 66 geranium plugs coming that will need potting on. Dh is going to have to move the box cuttings

I pulled up a heuchera from the pigscot borders, it kind of came away in my hand? I split it up and planted it in pots anyway. I also stripped all the brown leaves from my scented geraniums, they are looking in good shape. I adore those plants, esp the rose one as it is so useful in cooking. Watering them with rainwater seems to have really helped keeping them healthy over winter.

All this because baby cobbler is having a rare afternoon nap in his buggy.

Thanks for the heuchera propagation tip. I have just discovered that the two in the window box have also rotted/been severed at compost level, so I shall split one of my remaining unplanted ones and hope that they will soon grow to fill the gap. I have decided that permanent planting in window boxes is The Future.