…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.

Welcome Peggy.

Spent pretty much the entire day in the garden today. Got loads of seeds in and various areas sorted out. Waged war with another patch of brambles in the wood, I'm hoping to encourage more woodland growth by taking out some competition but am probably just making it easier for the ground elder to take over even more. I let the chickens out for a couple of hours in the hope that they may turn out to love eating ground elder but they spent all the time digging through the old leaves looking for worms. Need to train them better.

Sifted through more soil. The good news is that I have now taken all the affected soil out of the bed. The bad news is I still have about three barrow loads to sift and put back in. I'm going to have the nicest soil in there though, no weeds, no stones and a very fine tilth..

Waves to Humphrey! How's that pile of mulch doing hey?

Bertha, could you rent a goat to eat the elder?

Hi Peggy welcome to the thread! Thanks for the suggestion, I'm adding it to the list!

By the way, was chatting about the edible hedge during the week???
Don't forget to include elderberry! Think of all the lovely things you can make from the berries and flowers? I just found a recipe for elderberry champagne!!!

sorry that should read who was talking about edible hedging.. Bertha are elderberry and ground elder the same thing? It sounds like your elder has your heart broken!
Peggy your garden sounds bursting with loveliness and not at all small.

funny thank you! thank you! Off to bed with the laptop and a cuppa to watch Monty!

hi peggy

priblem with goats is, they would eat everything else as well.

my parents had to give up on a flowerbed. they were joking that they had a flower free elder garden and an elder free rose bed and veg patch (tanked with concrete slabs). ground elder and mint (about 5 different varieties) are fighting it out over the rest.

occassionally my parents cook a good portion of it. tastes nice actually, a bit like spinach.

oh, and I am planting to get a couple of woodruff plants for the shady part of my garden, I love the flavour.

this is ground elder only thing in common with elder trees is the name.

Mousmous I think you're doing the right thing, and focussing on the positive, ie. that the soil is going to be absolutely faultless by the time you've done sifting. Strength to your elbow.

Wellcome Peggy.

I've just caught up on the thread. Poor Monty and the box, I loved the Cornish garden and kept pausing for ideas. We're staying at Crantock in August.

The main achievement this weekend is that Dh installed an outside tap. I'm anticipating a dry spell when nature redresses the balance.

A few more seeds sown. We don't really have a theme though I tend to gravitate to tall things. So far have sown pink cleome, Bells of Ireland, foxgloves, morning glory, Echium Pininana, Borage, sunflowers, cosmos, Globe thistle, on the edible front tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, peppers, peas, courgette.

I'm thinking of cutting the grass tomorrow.

Perenial weeds have all been sprayed.

I've been known to garden with cutlery too, but the most bonkers thing was attempting to edge the lawn with scissors,when I couldn't find the shears.

castle I'm intending to make Elderflower Champaign this year and have been collecting Grolsh bottles!

An outdoor tap is a real boon - it made such a difference when we had ours installed.

That's a very impressive roster of seed-sowing, Bumbez. Now I have largely finished the garden clear-up, I must think about seeds.

Bumbez tip for elderflower champagne - use old pop bottles, leaving a few inches empty at the top. When the nobbly shaped bits on the bottom (the bumpy feet thingies) start to get out of shape, open the lid a few turns and release the pressure slightly, otherwise you'll have explosions! We still have a comedy splat shape on our kitchen ceiling from our first glass-bottled attempt a few years ago! You might need to do this every couple of days, but just keep an eye... we were sweeping up tiny shards of green glass for months!
Good luck and keep us posted.
Hello Peggy, this is indeed a fab thread. Your garden sounds lovely

The pile of mulch is about to be barrowed around by DH and our v old friend who comes to help us occasionally whilst I feed the insatiable baby . We will need another load to do the whole garden, DH's back is wincing already.

Everyone has been busy. I love this time of year! I would love to make some elderflower cordial. We only have one elderflower and it is way out of my reach so I need to find a friendly person with some going spare. We did flavour some gooseberries with elderflower and made a jelly with the juice for new year. It was good.

Outside tap is great Bumbez.

Thanks for the tip rhihaff how do you sterilise them?

I may regret doing so many seeds, will have an awfull lot to pot on at the same time. It's the novelty of my first greenhouse.

We just used Milton fluid and followed the instructions on the bottle Bumbez I love the idea of bark mulch and am very of your greenhouse. Sounds delightful!

Bumbez I did that in my first year I couldn't cope with the potting on. I also didn't want to throw any away and just had too much of everything which I tried to cram into beds. We live and learn.

Now I sow in waves, four trays a week. Today I did the onion sets and potted on the sunflowers. ( cursing the toddlers 50 sunflower plants, mind you the slugs will take at least a third) This afternnon I need to tie in the raspberry canes and cut out the old wood.

I've just watched episode 1&2 of this season's GW! I couldn't access bbcplayer as it recognised I wasn't in the UK, but somebody had very obligingly uploaded both episodes onto YouTube!

And yes, poor Monty with the box hedge. That is going to be a HUGE job.

Bumbez congrats on the outdoor tap! Very useful!

Must start drinking Grolsch!!!

So I went to tie in the raspberry canes, I cut out the dead canes but now I'm wondering if I should have cut the others back? They are really tall six plus foot. I have a mixture of summer and autum fruiting canes. They all are sprouting leaves.
Anyone an expert? I usually just leave them and thin a little but they seem much taller this year
I also discovered about 30 runner plants which will need to be moved thus adding another job to the list.

I am going to have to stop going into Lidl and Aldi.
Bought Rosa rugosa alba for the bank @€2.49 a rose. And a climbing rosa Iceberg for growing up the stable gable, also at that price...!
I am officially broke, no more spending on plants until I get paid againfor a while anyway...

I was in Lidl today and resisted the temptation to buy a clematis montana for 1.99. I am almost certainly going to need a new clematis montana, as I doubt the well-established plant I have now will survive the replacement of the fence, but I don't want to add to the huge bank of plants that are waiting to be planted post-Operation Fence.

But I may go back tomorrow to see if I can get a rosa Iceberg, as that would be a perfect replacement for the Breath of Life.

Yes, I think I may try eating some of the ground elder as a form of revenge. Problem is that we're surrounded by untended land so it's rife. It's drowned out the main bluebell patch this year. I'll be waging war on our wood bit by pulling as much up as possible but it's going to be a permanent feature. At least we have an expanse of lawn before any beds so it can't spread too far into the garden as long as I can keep it out of my compost heaps if course. Also the chicken run is on the other side of the wood along the fence we share with the neighbour. This means I don't feel guilty about it spreading into his garden as it doesn't get past the chickens.

On a cheerier note. Sharing a picture of my sole, but very pretty, quince blossom.

That's charming, Bertha. I planted two quinces when this garden was very new, but they both died. Maybe they didn't like the clay.

How are the worry dolls? Have you made Worry Monty yet?