…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.

Yay to Nymans meet up something to look forward to :)

What channel was the garden revival on I missed it?

Laughing at the albino squirrel we have a blackbird with white splodges on him, I first thought he'd been shat on, but 2 months on splodges are still there.

When I lived in London, there was an albino squirrel in Ruskin Park. I used to feed them nuts. The idea of feeding a possum now makes me larf.

Well it's 30 outside today, so I've put umbrellas over the rainbow chard and rhubarb, as they wilt something shocking. We've grubbed up and DH has blanched most of it for the freezer. As is often the case, it's quite windy, the heat having been brought in from the big dry brown bit in most the middle of Australia, and the brollies keep bowling over.

My potting-on ambitions will have to wait for the more reasonable mid-20s of the weekend, though DH wants to go to the mussel festival at Portarlington. I'm trying to imagine keeping them cool on the long, hot journey back:o

At one of my client's sites I regularly see an albino rabbit. Apparently there are quite a few of them around there. Loads of chalk in the soil and I wonder if they survive because they can hide in the white patches and shoot predators down with their red laser eyes

BBC2 Bumbez. Tonight's was lawns and tropical gardens. I now want a gunnera.

Managed some garden time today. The sun was shining too! Dug up remaining oca, knocked back some brambles in the wood, cut back remaining dead stuff in long bed and planted my baby foxgloves out in the woodland flower bit in the front garden. I was amazed at how much is starting to come up already, hints of Spring, it was lovely ready for the cold snap to kill it all.

Have also just planned out the veg plot planting for this year. DH is now on board for the bean igloo.

We visited Wakehurst Place today. The winter garden there was a little underwhelming, so we spent most of the time wandering round the pinetum, which was really lovely. Some amazing specimens, stunningly tall and dead straight trunks. The kids had a brilliant time, collecting pine cones, acorns and so on, and generally rolling in the mud.

I've been offered a hen house by a friend who is downsizing. Have launched new offensive to persuade anti-chicken dh that we need chickens. Not optimistic.

Rhubarb - My DH originally said he'd rather have DC3 than chickens, he was that anti-chicken. We now have seven and although I am prime chicken carer he does accept that they aren't so bad after all. And they are the only 'pet' we have that earns more money than they cost to keep as we sell two dozen eggs a week.

Bertha I read him your post! He just grumpily said "you'd be better off spending your free time doing the garden than on more chicken propaganda" so I took him at his word and spent most of the day gardening while he did the kids.

Lots of pruning (roses and wisteria) and finished off the mulching round the drive. I also identified the ceanothus variety and bought one from the garden centre, planted it and put up some wires on the wall behind to train it up.

My 'not spending any money on the garden' resolution didn't last long

Work and house clearance is massively hindering any gardening, though I have started watching the garden thingy on Iplayer.

That's not a resolution anyone would hold you to Rhubarb !

Did go into the greenhouse and see how my cuttings are going and seem to having a bit of success. The Aquaponic system is useful for rooting things in.

Found a few packs of bulbs at Mum's and a bulb planter so will need to get out there as feel it's worth a shot if I get a moment.

I thought about chickens when we first aquired a garden big enough, and lurked on the hen house. I can't remember why, but a few posters put me off! Possibly the commitment of having to put them to bed every night, or they become fox dinner.

Spent an enjoyable afternoon tramping through Ventnor Botanics, not much going on though. I did pick up a leaflet detailing Monty's next talks. He's coming to The Isle Of Wight in May!

We've marked out our Greenhouse and will be ordering in the next couple of days.

I've started watching the gardening revival on iplayer too. :)

I have excavated the horse radish as best I can from the raised bed where I stupidly planted it. I think I was halfway to visiting Echt and still didn't get to the bottom of the roots. I suspect I will be getting horse radish through the bed for ever. I wish I knew the spread problems before I planted the stuff! Does taste wonderful mind. I have replanted some crowns in a large tub for next year. I have some spare crowns if anyone wants some, PM me if you fancy it and have some big tubs or sacrificial raised beds and I'll post them on.

I enjoyed the cutting and herb garden revival ones. Greenhouse ordering is exciting Bumbez. I'd heard horseradish is a bit of a thug Bertha. People don't tell you these things when you stick them in,just after.

My Callicarpa and winter box finally arrived. I may just have added a Wisley cream clematis to the trolley by accident .

oh horseradish!
my parents have an enormous beast one in a sunken pot.
they take out a side rood at a time and store it in a bucket of damp sand between using it.

did you wave to echt? maybe you couldn't get it all out because she was pulling on the other side?

thinking about what and where to plant in the veg patch next summer. def tomatoes. the dc really enjoyed the sweet corn but monty told us to never plant it in a line, alway in clusters after I planted them in a line...
I want courgettes, but the dc are not very keen. pumpkin was a bit of a dissapointment. still want rhubarb, maybe I can save it from the snails this time.

What a coincidence. I've been eyeing two pots of horseradish DH planted up, wondering when to harvest and can you freeze the roots. As you can guess, we very sensibly have NOT planted it in the ground.:o

This morning I've been haring about, putting small plants into bigger pots, the better to survive our holiday next week, and loving ministrations of DD, who is no gardener. One saver is to line big plastic boxes with thick layers of newspaper and saturate it. The boxes are then put under the carport, which has the most shade. All the more vulnerable potted plants can stay there while we're away.

It's nearly one in the afternoon, and 38 degrees, up to 43 by four o'clock. The next days are 41, 39 and 40. An absolute bugger for the garden, watered or not. .

I'm going to stay in and watch the new Sherlock.

Echt - it's cold here, cold and wet. We are all staying in and watching Sherlock too. Were you holding on to the end of my horse radish roots?

I am going to try freezing some horseradish. We grate it and put it in a vinegar/sugar/brine solution which keeps it in the fridge or a month or so. But we have loads so I'm going to try freezing it in the briney stuff in ice cubes. Will probably kill the flavour but otherwise it's going to be wasted. Need to get DH grating it, I'm too much of a wimp.

hello everyone

have slightly emerged from baby fog and just caught up with the new threat. great title.

For once I am not feeding so have both hands to type!

Am feeling rather daunted as just looked up the NGS page and our garden is there. It is official. We have to open the garden. DH had an anxiety dream about it the other day, this is the only dream he has remembered by morning in the last twenty years

am off to catch up with the rest of the old thread now

oh, forgot to say that now our orchard is an official wildlife zone we qualified for a grant to help the drainage along as it is rapidly becoming a quagmire. We are also going to put a track through it, only a minimal layer of skelpings that will grow grass on top of it, so that we can get a vehicle through to the field, but it will mean a digger in the orchard in all this rain. I foresee great mud.

Holding on to horseradish roots… sounds like the kind of thing I'd do. :o Thanks for the storage tip, and will give it a try.

Well the 43 absolutely hammered some crucifix orchids. How odd they'll bear 40 with ease, but a bit more and it's goodnight, Vienna. Everything else had a bit of a lie down, but some judicious watering has sorted them out. The sheltering of more tender plants under the carport has worked a treat - no ill effects at all.

I thought I'd bustle about this morning and was up and out at 6.30.a.m. 88F. Not to be put off I've been hammering in stakes and draping shade cloth secured with big rubber bands over the veggie beds. Not a handsome affair, but it should work, and we really should have done it earlier, so now I'm back off to Bunnings for stakes and cloth for the second bed. And breathe.

88 at 6.30 Well done for the early start echt

Just done my Parkers order. 66 red pelargonium plugs, 3 agastache, 3 hostas for the copper pot, 33 snapdragons for the school flower bed, 6 Bishop of Oxford Dahlias.

Getting into the swing again.

Will you plant them outside when you get them?

Hello Humph we missed you! That's a big order. I spent a good hour drooling over the Bloms catalogue yesterday. I can feel a Nerine order coming on. I've got the perfect place for them - strip of soil along a south facing wall next to the path to the back door.

I have started the pruning in the orchard. Done the small unidentified apple and the large old russet. It is horribly squelchy underfoot but the big cherry tree is full of blossom.

The cherry tree has a bracket fungus on it. I looked this up and it doesn't sound good. Unclear how long it will take to kill it though, so I don't know whether I should get the tree surgeons in to remove it or just wait and see.

Hello Rhubarb. It is nice to be back. We have a bracket fungus on one of the old cherry trees in the orchard. I didn't know it was dangerous for the tree and rushed out to check if it was the one we have grown Paul's Himalayan Musk through, thankfully it wasn't. I would have been gutted if we had gone to all that trouble only for the tree to fall down.

I have planned the borders by the playhouse - Ammi Magus with mixed cornflowers on one side, with Old Times Sweet Peas on the other. The pigscot borders have not been that successful the last two years, so am going to uproot the lot and put in some kind of euphorbia that I can't remember the name of, edged with Escholzia californica. This is all stuff I am trying to grow from seed, wish me luck!

I love Nerines.