He who dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose

[Blackpuddingbertha]

New thread for the potting shed crowd using Rhubarb's rose suggestion and Squeaky's quote for the new title.

Spring is underway with promises of summer in our gardens big and small.

Elderberry wine for all

Bertha how was your nursery visit I guess it's too late for my Agapanthas question which is how long before a dry bit of rhizome £1 from Aldi would flower?

It has been planted and has green shoots.

I didn't see any agapanthus actually, just lots and lots of spiky phormiums! They were experimenting with aquaponic systems for rooting cuttings. Apparently they can export bare root plants but not potted plants so the aquaponic system works well for this. It was very interesting.

poggle does he like cheese?
my dc are mad for cauliflour+cheese.
another veggie favourite are falafel.
and colourful rice (rice cooked with onion, sweetcorn, peas, tomato pure, peppers.

No idea what it is Poggle, but the shrub is very pretty

Having googled phormiums I think my mum has one, its really big. Did you come away with one?

Lasagne went down well, falafel is a great idea. I'd got a bit lazy with her using too much quorn ready made food hoping she'd revert back to meat. I'm quite proud of her resilience actually although it is a pita.

is that a weigela poggle?

Some of them were as big as me poggle. I quite liked the purpley red varieties but not sure I've got space for one. Anyway they were wholesale only so no actual temptation to shop while I was there. Unless I wanted 500 plants...

DD1 gave up meat for lent. She was amazingly determined too. She existed on veggie sausages and macaroni cheese. She did eat fish though so our fish consumption went up quite dramatically.

Hi traviata, I know very little and no-one notices it is a pretty shrub though which may be weigela

-savoury pancakes with leeks and cheese/tomatoes, mushrooms and broccolli etc
-broccoli quiche, green salad and new potatoes
-cheese and broccoli muffins for lunchboxes
(yes, DD was a broccoli fan!)
-rice fried in a small amount of oil very quickly in a wok with cut up omelette, ginger, carrot slices, green beans etc and soy sauce. Best to do the veg first then add the cooked rice and omelette.
-black eye beans and parsnips flavoured with lemon and fresh dill cooked in a pan and then used as a pie filling. Need a tomato/mozarella/spinach based salad to go with it.
etc etc etc

celeriac 'burgers': just peel and cut them into discs. blanch them (or cook them for a minute in the microwave). then flour/egg/breadcrumps. fry until golden.

-spinach dahl: whole mung beans cooked slowly in 6 times the water. add loads of spinach and some tomatoes cut in half after about half an hour add juice of a whole lemon and ground coriander about a teaspoonful. cook for another half an hour or put in the oven to slow cook till the mung beans are very soft. Serve with rice and plain yoghurt.

those burgers sound nice mousmous

Clematis: Montana is out, growing up the flowering blue ceanothus. Buds are on Countess of Wessex, Helsingborg is showing blue nodding flowers in a shady space. Avalanche has masses of white flowers nearly over. Agree with someone upthread about it being a lovely surprise when they flower.

None of the others: Polish spirit, Viticella Abundance, Marjorie, Wisley cream, Broughton star have any flowers or buds

I had a brief veggie phase as a teenager. My mother fed me lentil burgers, which were delicious. No idea how to make them (unlike her, I am a terrible cook) but they involved red lentils, potatoes, tomatoes, egg and lots of cheese.

I am missing little Rhubarbcat who has gone in for four weeks of radiotherapy. Four weeks

Ooh thanks every one, some great ideas. The lasagne was so tasty the bloody dog got up onto the worktop and polished it off,well the pasta bit didn't touch the lentils which I should probably be greatful for!

I didn't know they could do radiation therapy on animals, is it a specialised vets hospital? Can you visit her?

Ps I think it is weigella thanks Traviata, I don't know much about gardening either but I am learning :)

Loving the idea of a dog delicately eating around the lentils!

That is a very pretty Weigela poggle. I think they are pretty tough: I hope so as I am going to have to cut mine back to the ground, as the central stem is dead and I have a few thin branches bravely flowering. I am planning on doing this straight after it's finished flowering and giving it lots of water and food, but would welcome advice on this.

Poor RhubarbPuss: I wish her and you all the best Rhubarb.

Thanks. It is a specialist vetinerary hospital yes. There are only four in the country that do radiation. It's a three hour round trip from here, so I shan't visit her - I don't think she would benefit from it anyway, she wouldn't understand why I wasn't taking her home. I just hope it all works and gives her another two or three years.

No advice but mine survived being cut down just after we moved in no food or water and just before winter, which is why it didn't flower last year.

Sounds like you have the best plan. I need to do something similar with a shrubby plant that's just finished flowering near the weigella. There's also a tree thing that flowered all winter and now has leaves, which has got out of hand.

Raining here boo!

Sending positive thoughts to rhubarb cat and virtual to rhubarb

erm...I hope nobody ate the lentils after the dog had been at the lasagne!

Raining here. Everything that is in the ground is growing fast.

The oak has come into full leaf so now the bed underneath its canopy has turned from being sunny crumbly soil to dry shade. The crocuses and tulips anemones, cyclamen and hepatica there are over and the newly planted Clemtis Broughton Star, Acanthus Mollis and Garrya Elliptica haven't had time to grow much and may not thrive in the dry shade. The Digitalis Alba are, however, thriving, and Rosa New Dawn has enough buds to flower next month if I keep it watered from now on.

The robins have hatched and the empty nest is on top of the honeysuckle now, I'm not sure how it got there!

My ex-MIL is having radiotherapy for breast cancer at the same time as Nutter. However poor thing she doesnt get a month of r and r. The NHS is going to the dogs.

No straight in the bin, Poggle dog is very much in the dog house. I am a fairly new dog owner (2 years) steep learning curve. He was clever enough to push a chair up to the serving hatch and climb through from the Dining room.

Sorry about your ex-mil funny, my own mother had ca breast about 12 years ago, got really good treatment free accomodation close to the hospital as was too far to travel in daily. I was wondering how they would make a cat keep still it has to be the exact same spot every time. My mum has a tattoo. < rushes off to check boobs >

Just watched allotment challenge, not sure whether to try and grow aubergines I really like them. I was sorry to see the mum and daughter go. Wish my dc's would take more of an interest

Ps I was grateful he left the lentils in case he exploded, not because I wanted them!

I'm not watching 'allottment challenge' on the basis that I already have an inferiority complex about my ability to grow anything edible apart from nettles.

Poggle did the hospital give your mum a tattoo specially for the radio? When I was treated back in 1992, they used gentian violet, which washed off when I had my first bath ( 6 weeks later)!

I'm loving the idea of PoggleDog moving furniture in an attempt to get food! My daft doodle can't even get through a door unless its open wide enough to get her entire body through without touching anything. Although she's also not a foodie dog, although she does apparently like the children's vitamins and stole them off the kitchen table last week. That was an expensive trip to the vets...lentils are probably safer.

Positive vibes being sent to Nutter.

I think I'm going to risk planting out frost tender stuff this weekend. Overnight temperatures fairly decent down here now.