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

Yes, rook pie does stand out a bit, doesn't it! This one was published by the Halifax Courier rather than WI but is probably very similar.

Nettle Porridge:

Gather young spring nettles when about 2" above the ground. Wash well and put in a pan of boiling water, allowing 1 pint of nettles to 1 pint of water. Boil until tender, then take out the nettles, chop fine, put back into the pan and thicken with fine oatmeal. Boil up, add a lump of butter and pepper to taste. Eat with bread or oatcakes.

Do let us know if you try it, funny!

I just made some! Couldn't resist having a go, after writing that out. Fed it to the kids for tea. The verdict is... bland... They both ate a bit without complaint, but not much. As did I. It smelt amazing when boiling up in the pan, but was rather disappointing in the eating. Perhaps a better cook than me (low bar) would know how to spice it up a bit. I'll be sticking to nettle tea, I think.

Oh - I loved the sound of Humph's tea garden too, by the way. I've seen tea gardens with just Camellia varieties in them before, but not one that included all the herbs. I think it's a brilliant idea.

I should have said that Humph's tea garden sounds a lovely idea.

I am feeling very proud of myself because (despite being a weak and feeble woman) I have just dismantled my old mini-greenhouse and put up the new one, which looks so much better because (unlike the old one) it stands upright. I had a general tidy-up and found an alarming number of snails.

Well done, Maud.

I had a weak and feeble woman moment today too, which I'm still mildly irritated by. I went to the hardware shop to buy strimmer line, but forgot to check the size I needed. So I made an educated guess and then asked the shopkeeper if I could change it if I'd got the wrong one. He asked if it was petrol or electric, then took away the one I'd picked and brought over a much thinner one. I knew it was wrong, and said it looked too narrow, but he was adamant this was what I wanted, and quite patronising with it.

Silly sod that I am, instead of being assertive and saying "No, actually, I know this one's wrong", I was terribly polite, thanked him, paid for it and took it home. Then immediately returned with a piece of my old strim line to apologise and change it for the correct one. The one I had in fact guessed at in the first place.

Gah. Too bloody English. And I bet he wouldn't have spoken to me like that if I'd been male.

I suspect you're right, Rhubarb. If you had been a man, you would not have been overruled in the first place. Grr on your behalf.

One of our local independent garden centres has been distributing discount vouchers, so naturally I went to have a look. So, equally naturally, I left with two roses - Heathcliff and (from the shelf of doom) Zephirine Drouhin.

Maud beautiful roses.
blue for you is fully open now and smells lovely.

I'm hoping so, mousmous! They had so many gorgeous roses to choose from.

I just watched the British Gardens Through Time episode on Biddulph Grange that I recorded weeks ago and forgot about. Has anyone been there? It looks fabulous. An avenue of sequoias! And subsequent owners felled them! Then the National Trust replanted them!

I had to google sequoias but now cannot believe that someone cut down an avenue of them Hurrah for the National Trust. I am annoyed I missed that one, they have been taken off iplayer now.

Tomorrow I am taking mint cuttings. I have just looked up how to do it.

Lovely Rose !

I haven't been there rhubarb, but I did watch the program, the thing that struck me was how so many plants came from seed, and the planter would be long gone before they matured. I am too impatient, wouldn't even dream of waiting 17 years for a Wisteria from seed to flower!

I really want to visit California to see the giant redwoods, tis on my bucket list! Disney land can bugger off

I've had a productive morning, potted up the Sarah Raven Dahlias, one of them -Ambition had 3 extra tubers separated from main plant. According to google they won't produce a plant but I've potted them up anyway. I also potted on Bells of Ireland and Hollyhocks. I had to dash out for compost and felt quite smug when I saw how much some of the things I've grown from seed are!

I've had a big turf out of the Greenhouse lots of things hardening off. Has anyone planted out yet?

Oh have been catching up as not managed to get in the garden much and feel that I have to garden before I can post! So I have finally got all my seeds sown in the greenhouse including on Sunday when the weather was very wild.

Yesterday potted up some hanging baskets and pots so feel like I have achieved something and today I am planting the veg seeds and some straight in annuals.

The builders next door have finished the hedge yeah! So will try to start clearing the new border.

Love the idea of a tea garden but may settle for some monadas as want it to be a bright colours border to contrast with my other border which is more pastels, any suggestions welcome. A friend has given me a gaillardia and an amazing ajuga. Also a heuchara which she pronounced with a ch sound and I have always said with a k whoops! Pronunciation is my downfall I spent years pronouncing buddleia as budahlia

You are right according to Wikipedia I think squeaky (not so good on IPA):

The genus Heuchera /?hju?k?r?/ are herbaceous perennial plants in the family Saxifragaceae, all native to North America.

I pronounce it with a k sound too.

So, how about clematis? Is it CLEM-a-tis or is it clem-AY-tis? I favour the first pronunciation, myself, but have heard both!

I got something right! Yeah. Having re read my post it's the fence they have finished. They are now doing the one at the front which is two foot higher then expected. This will make my shady border even shadier. Haven't done any gardening today as slight issue with the freezer means I have been batch cooking a lot of food! Will get out tomorrow definitely!

I never get the pronunciation of the latin names right. they just don't roll...

on flowers: the hydragena I cut back drasticaly last autumn has started to flower.
(that was one of he g/w moments when monty tells you 'whatever you do, don't...' after you have done just that the day before)

Can I ask you all for some ideas please. I'm heavily involved with our local agricultural show, next year I'd like to include an area for horticultural stuff, GYO, allotments, small holdings etc. If you went to an agricultural show, what would you like to see in such an area. I'm thinking produce/flower/plant show thing (will approach local horticultural associations for this) plus 'other stuff'; a mix of retail and educational perhaps. All ideas welcome! I need to pitch to the committee.

Bertha - will PM you tomorrow as my phone is about to die on me.

Bertha in addition to the usual 'size' and 'shininess' categories of fruit and veg. how about including classes that judge the tastiest strawberry or whatever, to encourage people to grow for the pleasure of eating. And how about some practical demos of how to prune things, or prick things out - simple things that are best shown to you.

And not forgetting categories for children including the classic garden on a tray.

It's been quiet on here! Very grateful, as it was easy to catch up!
Not too much happening here. I finally took the clematis out of the bath and planted it in the field garden. All the flowers (spring-flowering) dropped off it over a matter of days, but it kept growing green shoots so hopefully I haven't killed it...!

I also threw caution to the wind and sprinkled all the remaining wildflower seed along the bank last weekend and gave it a quick rake. Not as measuredly or carefully as the first sections I sowed, but it can't grow in the bag, so I've done my best! DH keeps remarking that so far I just seem to be growing thistles!

My little rosebud is almost 7 weeks along now, and we saw the heartbeat on ultrasound yesterday which is very encouraging, as we never saw that before with the others. Fingers crossed!

Sadly, being a bit distracted, some of my seedlings have perished....but the aubretia and forget-me-nots are doing well! No sign of roses yet!

Happy weekend potters!

Ps. Rhubarb how is Nutter?

Great news about the rosebud, Castle. Fingers crossed.

I now have tiny seedlings of parsley, lavatera Mont Blanc and cerinthe. The convolvulus seeds are doing nothing, but as they were ancient ones I found in the shed that's probably no surprise.

Did anyone watch GW last night? I thought Sophie Raworth's parents' garden was stunning.

Great news about the rosebud, Castle. Fingers crossed.

I now have tiny seedlings of parsley, lavatera Mont Blanc and cerinthe. The convolvulus seeds are doing nothing, but as they were ancient ones I found in the shed that's probably no surprise.

Did anyone watch GW last night? I thought Sophie Raworth's parents' garden was stunning.

Lots of garden tidying today, mostly because it's DD's birthday and at 6.00 in the evening it's 66F. Hanging out the Christmas garden lights, all doors open, crickets chirping, police alerted.:o

For once she can have a birthday where her mates can vomit in our veggie bed in a decent ambient temperature.

castle heartbeat is great. keeping my fingers crossed!

the dc have brought home a pineapple and now want to grow it. shoild we put it straight into soil? or in water until roots show?

Fingers crossed too for wee rosebud.

A few of us having dc's birthday parties, warm here too so am hoping to contain all the mess spilt food and drink outside, hopefully no vomit .

Not yet watched gardeners world, saving it for after the party!