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

My garden is wet and horrid and I've not been in it properly for ages, apart from abut of weeding. I've realised that the apple tree I planted in the autumn really needs to be rotated 90' and it's really annoying me. I don't think I can move it now.
Lovely to read about what you're all up to. Thank you for welcoming me bCk!

grockle good name are you by any chance on an Island in the South? you probably could replant your apple tree Rhubarb did hers.

Grockle is it still dormant or have the leaves started appearing? If it's still dormant you can get away with replanting it if you do it sharpish.

I'm a freak because I don't like shopping at all. One hour max is all I can tolerate in the house of Mammon and then I need to go home and a) read a book or b)garden. Online stuff has been a boon for me. No need to get in the car, park, struggle in the changing rooms etc. When people at work start to look a bit sideways, or I think the secretarial staff are better dressed, I go online and get some new clothes, similar to what other people my age and shape and committee level appear to be wearing, but otherwise am just not really motivated and never have been. I was brought up on Gandhi-ism and wearing hand spun cotton and getting good wear out of clothes, maybe thats the reason.

Anyway. There was a large and vigorous patch of ivy climbing up the back fence which I have now rooted out and replaced with clematis armandii today and I am wondering what autumn flowering clematis to plant with it.
Forgetmenots are out-I do like them!

Colours in the back garden are subtle- but in the south facing front I am planning vibrant bright colours and am reading Sarah Raven's 'the bold and brilliant garden' for inspiration.

The robins are nesting in the honeysuckle.

I find plants are more forgiving than clothes these days...

I have two conifers either side of the steps into the garden. They are clipped into spheres, about a metre and a half diameter. They block the path quite badly (planted far too close) and have been annoying me since we moved here. Dh likes them though, and they provide nice winter structure. I'm sorely tempted to cloud prune them. Shall I? He's taken the kids out for the day.

Ditto Bertha .

I want honeysuckle with nesting robins!

I would do it, Rhubarb. I love cloud pruning.

:: pass the Felcos::

I'm going in...

Ooh Rhubarb you are braving the wrath of DH!
Try to post a photo of your cloud pruning!

rhubarb you are so brave :o

I can report many many buds on my strawberries. hope for a nice large crop like last year.

How did the cloudy pruning go? I pass a tree pruned like that on my way to the station, & love it.

Weather a bit pants today so not much done in the garden. We did head out to our secondary horse manure source for a car load though and spread that around. DH didn't look very happy when I said we still need another load.

edible hedge, what about sea buckthorn? if the conditions are right of course.

I can just picture your DH's face bertha!

Planted a dainty little saxifrage in my suburban garden. And a few other things which had been waiting around in pots (astrantia 'shaggy', geranium roxanne, geranium phaeum album, lithosporum, fuschia mrs popple and fuschia magellanica) Lots of things need cuttings taken- the rosemary and fuschias and lavender especially, and I'd like to take some more rose cuttings, but I'll just have to do them next weekend. Yearning for some crambe cordiflora, will have to order some.

End of the tax year so filing got done in between the gardening. Trying to create time to relax over easter.

Loving the strawberry buds already! mousmous!

Yes, I would be interested to see how the cloud pruning went. I am attempting this on the ceanothus, but so far without managing to make it look anything different to two semi spherical arrangements: I'll have to look at some more pictures and prune again after it flowers.

I think I was being rather naive. I assumed Rhubarb's husband would be happy with cloud pruning and just unhappy to see them removed completely. Not I realise we have been egging her on to naughtiness and possible marital strife. Oh dear.

We went to the First Sunday event at the RHS Lindley Hall this afternoon. It was very nice, such as it was - after all, plants and cake is a pretty much unbeatable combination - but we spent less than an hour there. DH wasn't impressed at having to pay 5 to get in.

Since then, I have had a productive hour or so in the garden. I have chopped up the dead Christmas tree to be taken away in the green recycling tomorrow (and am just hoping that the ailing Christmas tree doesn't have to follow it in the next few weeks) and dug some humungous weeds out of the lawn. There is lots of lovely fresh new foligae all over the place and a few things - dicentra (can't remember its new name), aquilegia, Queen of Night tulips - just about to flower. Annoyingly, though, some of last year's tulips are coming up blind.

Oh, and Humph, another orange tulip you might like to look at is Orange Emperor. I see that SR says it is very early, but mine is just about to flower and so is about a fortnight behind Orange Brilliant. (Also, this is one of those where I am finding that most of the bulbs are coming up blind, so it looks as if I will only have one flower in the pot, but that may be to do with sub-optimal growing conditions).

Oh I'm looking forward to the tulips! Managed to get out today and plant lettuce, radishes and beetroot in the raised bed, as well as two big pots of rainbow carrots.

The rhubarb which has been waiting patiently in its pots since February was finally planted out too!

The epic flower order was from dutch bulbs wholesale... when they arrive I expect MIL and DM will poach a few, but I'm looking forward to softening the look of the vary stark fences.

Hello, Frank. It's taken me a while to realise that you are (I think) the American version of FrancisUrquhart!

I am feeling guilty that I still haven't planted any seeds. Maybe tomorrow.

I wish some of you live near me I have lots of purple sprouting broccoli. Having googled, 6 plants will feed a family of 4. I'm going to have 20 spare! Any Isle Of Wight lurkers?

My one friend that gardens has the greenest fingers wonder if its got any thing to do with the graveyard she backs onto and the smallest garden. She's given me 3 melon seedlings, really? In the uk?

I bought lawn weed and feed today. Will scatter it when it's dry again. Didn't get my primrose divided, was too wet today. Also have a clematis bought last summer in Costco that has (amazingly) come back into life and I mean to put against the front fence.

Baby is growing vigorously thanks funny! I have a lovely picture of her yesterday with a background of rhubarb plants, and the boy perching like a gnome beside her... Our local children's centre is starting up a kids allotment for under-5s (the boy just qualifies...) so we will go there on Saturday morning (inlaws are visiting so need to find things to do out of the house).

How's mini-Humph doing, Humph?

I need to make some purchases soon (am twitching). I want to spend my gardening pound more effectively and conscientiously this year - no B&Q/homebase polystyrene bedding trays, would like to avoid chain garden centres, but find local nurseries and (even better) enthusiasts' plant sales. I've broken my rule already of course, with the cheap Wilko things I bought in January and planted (ahem) some time later, but as they haven't even come up I think that has taught me my lesson!

Yesterday we planted the first thing in our new garden - 11 White rose bushes (5 Claire Austin climbers, 3 creme de la creme, 2 perry something's, 1 ice cream)

After finding out that our front garden (fab size about 30 foot by ten foot) is completely unplantable for anything with roots as weirdly you dig down 6 inches and it's concrete there will be no roses there so they now all have to go out the back when I had planned to have 3 huge arches out the front.

I am very miffed though as I hurt my back really badly laying a tiled floor last week and I can't bend at all - there is going to be very little gardening for me this Easter and since my allotment needs a few days of hard graft it's going to be torture.

Oh dear pogge that means I will be drowning in broccoli too, as I have a tray full of plants as well.

BabyBearleigh's plans for our vegetable garden are so ambitious that we may not have room for it anyway, without digging up more lawn. He is very sweet: he gets terribly excited at all new shoots.

Don't worry Maud I didn't need much egging on! It took me five hours to cloud prune one of the conifers. The jury is out on the result. I may have too many clouds. They all need to bouff up a bit. I shall give it a year and see how it grows, and can always just replace with yew or box if necessary. Dh came home and was but took it in his stride. He knows better than to question what I do in the garden!

However. Once again, I ended up spending a gardening day doing something that didn't really need doing, and failed to even start on my list of priorities. Damn.