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

So, very typical British bank holiday Monday activities today. Gardening, village fete and family BBQ. It's rained non-stop all day

Got a bit damp and muddy this morning but got some transplanting, potting on and planting out done. And a bit of weeding in the long bed. Need it to get a tad warmer so that things really start to grow now.

The Chelsea coverage drives me mad tbh. Too many interviews with people when I would rather be looking in detail at the gardens.

Busy day in the garden. Planted up the terracotta pots with the piddly pelargoniums I have been growing on. Weeded the gravel around the herb beds. Pulled out all the forget-me-nots from the crab apple borders, raked up the gravel paths around the round veg patch, swept out all the dead leaves from the corner of the verandah. I also put in a heuchera and some London Pride at the side of the path through the arch into the cottage borders.

DH put the roof on the tree house! It is finished. Most exciting.

Glad we made the most of the nice weather, forecast is DIRE for the rest of the week.

i watched the catch up today on iplayer, really liked the night sky and the trees in a cave. i was interested in the memorial gardens, dds school is creating one which needs to be done by the end of June, they've chosen a random ww1 soldier who has the schools initials, and for homework have to find out about him, trace any alive relatives and invite them to see the garden!

great pictures nann

funny your garden sounds delightful, mine makes me happy too.

we hosted a deck opening bar-b-q yesterday, Dh knocked up a mahoosive table which I'm nicking for potting 4 families it was lovely.

Rainy today, i've pricked out lavender seedlings -Munstead strain and Ellagance ice. The latter only 3 germinated. I also potted on Delphiniums, Aquilegia, and lupin.

Dd2 is away at Brownie camp for a whole week, I'm really missing her but did sneak a sausage.....

humphrey I was thinking the exact same thing about the coverage when replaying to see if there was any detail about the planting. There wasn't.

I agree about the formulaic and repetitive nature of much of the Chelsea coverage - it was very obvious when I watched several programmes back to back on iPlayer.

We went to a lovely garden yesterday and are going to another one today.

half term.
am home with the dc, but it's just o so wet. I can see tea+cake in a garden centre this afternoon.
the roses have gone wild now, so beautitul. even though 'blue for you' is not as blue as I had hoped, but that might also be the sourrounding plants. in garden shows everythng is so carefully planted for the effect.

we have sloworms and toads in the garden, that might explain that there are not as many snails and slugs as feared. the dc have the job of keeping the fern well watered as a hideout and next to it is a 'bug hotel' with plenty on hidey holes.

hehe

I sat inside and gazed mourngfully out at the rain yesterday too. I had got some things planted on Saturday (we were out on Sunday) so the weekend was not wasted, and they are growing away already. It always surprises me!

Some of the things I planted were Nicotiana Alata that I had grown from seed and potted on into plastic pots and half into paper pots that I had made. Those in paper pots are significantly bigger and stronger plants, than those in the plastic pots. In very other way they got the same (lack of) care. Maybe there is something to that air pruning business...

Interesting about the air pruning. Maybe it's time to engage SS in a spot of slave labour again!

GCSE angst starting here though DD only has one this year. I'm finding I have to revisit Physics and Chemistry and I was bad at those first time round. I decided a trip to buy a few veg plants would be good therapy as I am very behind. One place wanted something hideous like £3 for a courgette plant but I found one for a much more respectable 90p and got some lettuce in too.

I have been inspecting Mme Carriere and found a second bud. To be fair there may be more but it is hard to tell as she has grown loads and is up in next door's hawthorn tree and growing in amongst a fairly rampant honeysuckle.

yes yes to expensive seedlings.
have seen many 'grafted' ones at our local place, 3£+ per plant.
with all the rain, I can nearly hear the weeds growing :o

I think if it was grafted I'd have coped a bit better but it was a run of the mill courgette plant. What's with an outbreak of black tomato plants everywhere?!

Well, that was lovely in every way. Everyone who can get there should make tracks for the opening of Humph's garden for the NGS toot sweet.

Are you open now then Humph? As much as I would love to have a nosey I fear you are just too far away for a jaunt

We are opening for an afternoon in June. It was sooo nice to see Maud and her lovely family, thank you for coming and bringing me plants as well.

Perhaps we should have a potting shed/horticultural camp in the orchard??? you are all welcome!

Where is your garden Humph?

We noticed there is a Camping & Caravanning Club site very near you, Humph ...

We are in Monmouthshire.

Ooo Hump, can I be cheeky and ask for recommendations for things to do in Cardiff with DD (15) and DD (10)? We're doing the Dr Who thing but have a couple of days to fill. I left University as they were starting work on the Bay so it's very different to how I remember it.

I did discuss a possible trip to Monmouthshire with Dh and have looked online at self catering cottages and mansions. We'd love to visit but have limited time left this year as going back to Cornwall in August and need to fit in the Edinburgh in-laws at some point, definitely want to come next year though, will you open again humph

sarah raven dahlias now 70% off!

the garden is ALWAYS open to you pogglebonkgeoff! Although it is not that exciting, really.

Cardiff bay is lovely, with really nice restaurants and shops, but I am afraid I am not very with what is going on currently.

I went to Cardiff - when were you there?

No worries, will hit Google. DD has just realised that her first science GCSE paper is 6 June, not in fact 19 so we are making trip as quick as possible so I guess Dr Who, the bay and a bit of shopping will cover it. Lesson to anyone with GCSE'S to come - ask for written evidence of date as soon as you are told it !

I was there 93-96 (Psychology) and have some very fond memories.

We have just got home from our trip, so naturally the first thing I did was to inspect the garden. We've clearly had a lot of rain and everything seems to have doubled in size. The snails have eaten nearly all my parsley seedlings so I extracted my revenge by despatching about 70 of the blighters.

A friend came round to collect her share of the Chelsea haul and confirmed my observation that I have very few slugs and snails, though lots of birds. I guess the birds eat the slugs and snails.
I wish they ate the mice who have bred in the compost heap while I have been away . I am currently wondering how to encourage owls.

Apologies for being so needy, but could I please have some slightly grubby-under-the-fingernails gardeners' hugs? I have just found Japanese knotweed creeping under the fence from the unkempt garden behind mine. I feel a bit sick.

And if anyone has some success stories about vanquishing Japanese knotweed, I would be very glad to hear them. I'm going to have to track down my neighbours and ask them to do something, aren't I?