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

[echt]

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.

[Blackpuddingbertha]

Ribena - that looks a bit like my idea but with sides. I can't plant directly in the ground there though so will have to look at pot configurations.

[funnyperson]

That frame is beautiifully made.

[Blackpuddingbertha]

Ribena - that looks a bit like my idea but with sides. I can't plant directly in the ground there though so will have to look at pot configurations.

[Blackpuddingbertha]

Oh, I'm repeating myself!

[WynkenBlynkenandNod]

Lovely frame. I can only build a wigwam as lose patience with anything else.

Well done Castlelough, what a lovely way to commemorate your Grandad. I am sadly lacking in the rose cutting stakes as have turned into a one woman removal company and am knackered. Nightmare about the house, I'm twitchy about Mum's being empty.

[funnyperson]

Oh I've been on the phone chatting, and Wynken got to the end of the other thread! Happy new year to this one!
Empty houses are tricky. Also not earning their keep so to speak. But the work required to let them out can be horrendous even if one lets to students. Nevertheless I recommend letting. The house next door to me was empty for 17 years and twas terrifying the way the local drug dealers knew that their garden was a good trysting place and now the owners have come back they still cant get rid of them and have to keep calling the police out. Whereas on the other side the house got let out and the owners have had a nice little income all these years and I a variety of interesting neighbours. I'll never forget the Japanese deputy ambassador's wife who was an amazing gardener. She would spend hours looking at a tree, then carefully lop off a branch at a certain angle, then plant a single red begonia in a perfect place so as to show off both the tree and the begonia. Quite remarkable. We now have meerkat solar lamps in the same place. Very different. As I quite like meerkats I don't mind.

[Bumbez]

Ooh new thread

Waves to ribena.

Thanks for the greenhouse recommendations funny, Gabriel Ash look lovely but a bit out of my budget.

The peacock you are planning sounds wonderful funny, you must post some pictures. On the subject of pictures wouldn't it be easier if mumsnet let us post pictures on gardening threads - they've added that feature on 'chat' now and I believe you can on the cooking threads rubbish cook hardly ever go there I've finally put some pictures on the Facebook page of Heligan gardens anyway.

Was lovely here today but no gardening, to be honest it's a bit swampy. Took the dog out instead.

Is it too late to prune apple trees does any one know?

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Hi Bumbez. I think it's still ok to prune apple trees as the sap won't be moving for weeks yet. I was thinking earlier that I must get someone round to sort out ours.

[Rhubarbgarden]

Oh hurrah we reached the end of the old thread! I can finally stop hovering in the doorway . Home made damson gin anyone? Not made by me don't worry a friend left it behind on new year's eve.

Funny your peacock sounds fab. I want to see photos.

Apple pruning can be done any time through the winter whilst the trees are dormant. Will it ever stop raining though?! I have SO much to do out there and it is all just a complete quagmire. It has underlined how much we need paths in the garden. Walking across the lawn to the compost heap constantly is turning it into a mud bath.

[Rhubarbgarden]

Oh, re cost of gardeners - I'm £15 an hour. That's with horticultural qualifications and Kew internship. Bargain, no?

[funnyperson]

Oh goodness, just got woken up by one of the returning DC. Luckily I had cooked supper beforehand.

The thing with photos is that having been used to one of those manual canon slr zoom lens thingys where you fiddle with apertures and exposures and come out with serious stuff, I am no good at the point and snap technique and don't know how to upload the fuzzy pictures off my 3 pixel cheapo phone anyway. Both the DC have iphones. The last time I looked there was a smartphone with a canon lens which, if I continue with my new years resolution of spending my money on me, I might get one and then I will take pictures. Rhubarb your garden pictures always look good, what sort of cameraphone do you have?

[echt]

Today I planted hops, for no other reason than to decorate a first floor balcony. It will look pretty and give some cover. A bit late in the season, but then we're not gathering the fruits.

I'm beadily eyeing a crepe myrtle approaching its third year in the ground without flower. It flowered twice in the pot after savage pruning. If it doesn't cooperate it'll be in the shredder and in will go a bottle tree, brachytriton rupestris, which has the virtue of being utterly reliable, if a bit gigantic.

[FunkyBoldRibena]

Yes apple pruning, we do ours here in the midlands at the arse end of January. At the moment we are coppicing hawthorn, cornus and hazel to try and tame a mature hedge for future firewood.

Sowing seeds, you can sow this years onions, and the odd early pepper if you have somewhere warm to keep them.

[Rhubarbgarden]

It's an iPhone, funny

Love those bottle trees, echt

[Blackpuddingbertha]

I love the smell of hops.

I am intending to plan the veg plot and planting schedule when I get back from our New Year frolic in the Cotswolds. And make my list of garden projects (big and small) to inspire me to do one or two if them.

I'm happier now the other thread is full, I was feeling a bit 'split' there for a while!

[mousmous]

how do you drain a plant pot that is water logged?
one of the rose pots is full to the rim with water
the pot has got holes.
do I have tu turn it over and poke something through the holes?
is it bad news for the bare root plant?

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Waterlogging is never good, but, yes, if you poke a cane or similar through the holes that should help it to drain. Can you stand the pot on bricks?

[mousmous]

did some poking and the pot is on the lawn now to drain.
don't know how long it was like that, hope the rose didn't drown.

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Fingers crossed! Roses are pretty tough.

[mousmous]

now I saw another problem, the tipping and poking lifted the rose a little out so that a litle bit of the roots show under the stem.
re-pot? or can I leave it?
photo on my profile.

[mousmous]

ohhhhh

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Excellent news about the photos!

I would be inclined to repot the rose. If the root is showing beneath the stem, that implies that the graft is above soil level and latest advice is that the graft should be an inch (or is it two inches? I can't remember) beneath soil level. Repotting would also give you an opportunity to mix some grit or perlite into the compost to improve drainage and prevent further waterlogging.

[funnyperson]

Photos! Somethig to look forward to!
The ground is seriously waterlogged and my lawn all trampled on. The lady gardener was a bit of a throw-it-in-and-let-them-fight-it-out type, luckily I had stocked up on horticultural grit to put at the bottom of the bulb planting holes and a few went in pots anyway. Never again will I have a gardener though if I can help it, except for seriously difficult jobs like pruning very high shrubs.
At least I did feel I was contributing to the local economy. Sigh. Her husband is going to come and sort out the crumbling front wall for a reasonable price. Sigh. More contributions to the local economy. Churchill and his family built the brick wall at Chartwell themselves one summer when they were hard up and I always feel totally inadequate by comparison. Chartwell is said to have lovely roses but I've never been there when they are in bloom.
I agree with Maud, repot the rose Mousmous.

[Bumbez]

Thanks for the pruning advice, now Christmas is out the way I'm rearing to go - just need it to stop with the wild weather!

Dh at some point this weekend and I are planning to mark out a greenhouse space, I think we're going for an 8 by 10 in toughened glass.

Brilliant re the photos. My iPhone is really old and takes ok pictures. I believe Samsung is meant to be good and a fraction of the price compared to an iPhone 5.

[Onefewernow]

I'm so impressed at you lot still gardening. I'm a bit if a fair weather type myself, albeit annually reliable.

Although I did plant bulbs, an apple and some 'Joan' raspberries in November.

Then came indoors to read instead.

So I'm very impressed.