…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.

Rhubarb (& everyone else) MrBearleigh bought me the book by Sarah Raven "Vita Sackville West's Sissinghurst", which is a really lovely book, full of ideas. You would get some ideas for your walls, I am sure.

rhubarb what about hops on the East wall?

I've yet to watch GW side tracked by Sports relief and got a bit tearful.

150 pots arrived, I spent the afternoon potting on some of the seedlings.

Castlelough there was a little article by Val Bourne in the Telegraph today recommending the planting for a bank:

Vinca minor La Grave
Narcissus Jetfire
Flower Carpet rose Amber, or Kordes County roses.

The article gives advice on planting distances etc. I couldn't find it online but it may be up tomorrow

just caught up on gw.
am well jealous of monty's rhubarb.
at least mine is growing now, two hardy looking leaves per plant.

Yes, my rhubarb looks nothing like!
It will be interesting to see what Carol and the GW team make of an ornery family with a northfacing small garden and a small child. I hope they don't just let it fizzle out like with Rachel and the army wives garden one year.

agree, this garden will be interesting to watch developing.
am interested to see what they do in the shadier area close to the house and if they have to fight off neighbouring cats and squirrels (they dug up all my just germinated parsnips)

Yes I can't make up my mind about whether this is going to be a 'sixty minute makeover' garden programme as with the Alan Titchmarsh gardens, but in installations, or whether it is going to be about real people who garden.

Lovely day in the garden
I'm really not sure about the compost heap. Firstly the compost takes ages to form- I haven't used any since I put the autumn leaves in because they haven't decomposed -and secondly the ground round it doesn't grow grass or plants due to footfall. As a bog standard wooden thing it doesnt look terrible but it doesn't look exactly nice, and so effectively it is taking up garden space without necessarily adding to the look and feel of the garden.
What do you all do ? Do you screen it or whatever? I'm thinking of giving it a full year ie till this autumn and if it hasnt delivered excellent leaf mold in time for the autumn mulch it is going and plants will take its place.

I don't have a compost bin.
would like one but house is north facing so the only suitable place is close to the house. at least we have a green bin which also takes cooked foods. I suspect I buy my own compost back when I get it from the garden centre

Some leaves can take a couple of years to decompose. Stirring it regularly helps. You can also chop them up with a lawn mower or leaf blower (on suck) before you put them in the compost bin, which helps to speed up the process.

I got rid of the old compost heaps last autumn (riddled with perennial weed seeds) and started again with three newly built wooden compost bays. One is being used for regular compost and the other two for leaf mould. When the compost one is full I'll leave it to 'cook' for half a year, combine the two leaf mould ones and start a new compost one in the third.

I bought a cold frame today. They were on half price at the garden centre so I couldn't help myself. I've hidden the box in the garage where dh can't see it and will assemble it during the week when he's not around.

I only went to the garden centre for a bag of grit for planting the Nerines that arrived from Hayloft!

Thanks Bearleigh I will try to track that down!
I attended a 3 hr 'Create an Orchard' course this morning. There was a good bit of general advice but it wasn't too helpful. A lot of talk about soil composition, but we did get a nice wander in the orchards and it was nice to talk to other like-minded individuals!

They have apple tasting days later in the year, so I'm going to sit tight and wait til I taste the various apples before rushing into buying and planting...they stock hundreds of varieties, including heritage and conservation apple trees, so I'll look forward to that! The facilitator did say it would be no harm to dig the holes now, fill with nutritious minerals, and fill them in and cover with cardboard and old carpet. So we'll see.... maybe a job for the summer when I have lots of time free.

I planted my wisteria today.

I also popped into a local cafe to enquire what shade of paint they had used on the shop front, as it is divine! Perfect for the stable/shed doors...

Think I will have to re-plant the climbing rose because it has sunk a bit and a puddle of water gathers there when it rains (and it has been very wet!). It's a bit like you with your orchard trees Rhubarb! I will have to plant it in a little mound until it settles down to the right level. Made sure to plant the wisteria up in a little mound. Was so disappointed to read online that wisteria can take 7+ years to flower!!!

Tomorrow I'm going to fix the rose and climb the second one, and start digging the geranium bed under the stone wall....

My rhubarb is an inch high and you have to know where it is to see it. Compost bins here are hidden behind the greenhouse. I found that the first batch took ages and ages but then future batches speeded up.

I am also interested to see how that garden Carol is plants shapes up. I'm going to make the dog watch GW, I woukd like her to channel her inner Nigel. She produces slimy tennis balls so must be half way there.

Been out in the greenhouse this afternoon potting up pelargonium, penstemon and Bowles Mauve (or whatever it's called ) cuttings. Took more cuttings of various things and shoved them in the Aquaponic system as finding that effective for rooting cuttings.

Had an accident with my sharp knife and a heuchura

Rhubarb your compost set-up sounds ideal!
Glad I amn't the only one who has to hide my garden centre purchases from DH!!!

That sounds like our compost bin funny we have 4 because when we first moved in there was so much green waste, used a cheap lidl chipper, and stuff a year on is now compost. Dh fessed up to regularly weeing on it and we also used an accelerator. Two are hidden behind the greenhouse and Dh is a bit obsessed - regularly stirring and checking it.

If there is no leaf mould by October I too would get rid. I've read it's a good idea to chop up leaves with a lawnmower although I've never done that.

Very interested in how the garden turns out on GW, I wonder if it was filmed last year? In one scene their baby was walking!

Hillier gardens were lovely, Magnolias everywhere and the winter garden was going strong. Only got to ask one question at the recording as there were loads of people there. Asked about curbing the creep of the ground elder in my wood; the prognosis was not good

wrt to wisteria, I have heard that plant from cuttings flower immediately, but plants from seeds take a while.

Thanks mousmous, maybe I have the cuttings kind

Bertha sorry it was bad news about the ground elder...here have a glass of .

Bumbez you are the compost queen!

Must catch up with Gardeners World!

Thanks for the

I was fancying a wisteria the other day, DH won't let me have one up against the house but I'm thinking of training a free-standing one instead. I wonder if you can tell whether they're from cuttings or grown from seed when you buy them?

Dont know if you can tell bertha but I bought one already in flower for the last house from a small independent nursery - it was £17 although 10 years ago, went on to flower very well every year.

Yes Bumbez I read in my google search that if it is in flower when you buy it that it will continue to flower. I can't remember if mine was or not .

Wynken well done on all those cuttings! It's a bit addictive isn't it?! My first experience (my roses) has been so positive that I think I'll be experimenting even more in future!

Bearleigh sorry I forgot to say that book sounds lovely! I'm slightly allergic to Sarah Raven but anything about Sissinghurst has got to be good.

Sorry to hear about your knife/heuchera incident Wynken.

I'm going to try to get up at 6am tomorrow to cut back more of the yew hedge before the road gets busy.

Rhubarb I sort of know what you mean about S Raven. I could scream at the number of emails and catalogues that I get, and the prices are high*, but I have to say I like the varieties of plants that she sells, and I do think she writes well.

*and last year when a rose I had bought and planted carefully the year before was still only a twig with two leaves! I got a full refund on the price, no questions asked. I left it in and now it's got a few more leaves - still a very sickly specimen, but I will see if I can get it turned round.

I was really put off Sarah Raven after the tv programme about Sissinghurst and her conflict with the staff about wanting something Moroccan on the menu when a good solid British dish as the staff wanted would have been absolutely fine. I also couldn't understand the relationship between her business and Perch hill and Sissinghurst. However now I see that it doesn't matter to me anyway, as I dont know her other than what the tv projected, and I have to say her dahlias from the Venetian collection were superb last year, the catalogues are lovely, and I felt sorry for her being relegated to the British lawn in the great garden revival when she had Sissinghurst at her elbow.

Good morning!

I have a holiday question. we are going away for easter and I wonder what I should do with the seedlings.

should I leave them inside in a tray with a lot of water? the tomatoes I will pot on before so that they have more soil to hold moisture.
don't think I can put them out (yet) so many clumsy cats and naughty squirrels that like to tip over the pots.

Hmm. If the seedlings are still small, which I guess they are, they might drown and rot if left standing in a tray of water. Have you got any capillary matting? Or could you improvise with an old towel?

And does anyone have any tips for reviving a flagging camellia? I want to keep it, as it was a gift, but it's evidently not very happy. The plant must be about 17 years old now, but last year produced two measly flowers. It's in a sizeable pot and lives in the front garden, where it gets a decent amount of sun from mid-morning. Its leaves are a rather unhealthy looking pale green and something has nibbled chunks out of the edges of about a third of the leaves. I will buy some suitable compost next week to top-dress the pot, but should I also buy it some sort of tonic?