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

Hello to all the lovely new people and the originals (nicer then saying old!)

I have managed to get a border clear of weeds. Small victories and all that. Lots of sticky weed and nettles which I always feel guilty about pulling up as feel I should be making nettle tea or leaving for rare butterflies, I may try putting some in a pot if that's not too weird an idea. I really want to put some kind of edging in to stop the grass migrating back into the area and then bark chip mulch as its the border under a conifer and hawthorn hedge so can't really grow anything in it, any tips?

I also made it to our local Aldi which had some bedding plants, begonias and three field maple trees and nothing else, so was very disappointed

Hoping to head to the range to stock up on compost as am determined to get some seeds sown in the greenhouse this week. Hope everyone else is enjoying the lovely weather.

We've just had an outing to the plant auction. I was very restrained, but foolishly have bought a huge cell tray of lobelia which will need pricking out and growing on. What am I going to do with hundreds of lobelia plants?

::buy in haste, repent at leisure::

I'm currently thinking about lawn edging. All my beds are slightly raised. I started with log roll edging, that eventually rotted and I replaced it with bamboo (copying a local NGS garden, where I had admired it). Now the bamboo is rotten so I need to think of what to have next. I've seen some flexible metal edging advertised in the RHS magazine, which looks good. I'd quite like something weathered and rusty.

I have stone edging our "lawn", Maud. It isn't quite straight enough to get the mower close. I am starting to think I should take out the stones and do a conventional lawn-meets-guttered edge of bed.

This morning we went to the inauguration of the local Sure Start (well, formerly Sure Start) Children's centre allotment. There is a very small group of allotments near the station, and about 40% of them aren't apparently used. The CC have secured a plot of four raised beds, a shed with a big gap along the roof apex, an area of decking. They were given about 50 bags of past-their-best compost, peat and horse manure from the local garden centre, and about ten of those enormous pots that mature trees are sold in - more than half a metre across. It was pretty fabulous really - there were three staff and about seven families there, mucking in with weeding and digging the beds. I found myself in the exceedingly odd position of being the most competent gardener present, and therefore tended towards managing everyone else's efforts. The centre staff were all coyly asking if there was any chance we could come between the planned once a month when staff will run the plot.

So I fear I have got myself into the allotment game.

Ooh, and an allot

Grrrr. An allotment etiquette question: the neighbouring plot is a dandelion farm i.e. untended. Would it be acceptable to (a) spray the lot with weedkiller so it doesn't re-colonise the children's plot too, and (b) take up the congested rhubarb crown sadly hanging on in a corner, divide it and plant it in the children's big pots on the decking?

I think spraying the dandelions would be a public good. I'm slightly less sure about helping yourself to the rhubarb but, if the plot 's clearly been abandoned, why not?

Hello! I'm delurking to see if anyone could talk composting with me...
After being in my house for two years, the old composter in the corner of the garden has finally caught my eye. I have three gerbils, who serve as my 'shredders' for paper, cardboard etc. Could I throw their old bedding into the composter?

I've been quite enthused by the beautiful, earthy-smelling compost that I've dug out from the bottom of the composter and am keen to have a go at making my own!
Also, does anyone have any tips on how I can turn the compost? it is a typical plastic composter and a lot of stuff has got compacted mid-way. It's physically difficult to get into it to free it up - but is it just something I need to persevere with???

Thanks for alerting me to council garden waste collection services. Joined the waiting list for mine... I'm looking forward to being able to garden without hourly tip trips!

Our pear blossom is coming to an end but the apple tree is adorned with it The tulips will be here in a day or two too!

Pogglebonk, how do you get a senetti to flower all winter. Did it stay in a greenhouse?

well today has been productive, I discovered some dahlia tubers in the shed that I had stored and forgotten about (and failed to label, so surprise!) so ive potted those up. Potted on some lavenders I grew from seed, some lily bulbs (again failed to label) and sown some cucamelon seeds.
I also popped to the garden centre to get some canes and came home with a couple of geums, a leucanthemum and a perennial wallflower.

In allotment news- my OH dug the last bed over, and mowed the grass and docks for me. the courgettes, marrows and tagetes I sowed earlier in the week (on the windowsill) are peeking their noses up.

I agree with Maud, Lexi, and if you leave a bit behind the new opener won't be any the worse off. Mind, with rhubarb, variety seems to matter a lot. A friend has some from a bit given by her SIL, and wow it is grim: it cooks to a khaki mush and is tasteless. Mine, from a bit given by my SIL is a Champagne variety, a lovely pink even in summer and tastes all fruity and gorgeous.

Hi Silk. I put my chicken's bedding in my compost (wood shavings) so I guess gerbil bedding would be one too. You need o get the balance right with green stuff going in too though otherwise it doesn't compost down properly. Can't help with the compacted bit (I have wooden compost bays), I'm guessing there is no easy way!

Did a few bits and pieces in the garden today, planted some wallflowers to replace the dead French lavender at the end of the long bed, potted on some stuff and sowed peas, kohl rabi, sea kale, beetroot and radish in the veg plot. Also planted the nasturtiums, beans and peas into the edible igloo bed. Anyone know if nasturtiums are frost tender? Will they need some protection if we get a frosty night?

have just watched gw.
the plug thingy seemed a bit tedious, don't egg cartons work in the same way (and less messy)?

I loved seeing the beautiful ancient camelias, maybe I can find space for one in my garden.

Mous I was a bit at the plug machine thing. Oh to have the time to faff around like that!

Hello Silk. I've never had one of those plastic compost bins so can't really advise. Could you tip it all out, stir it up and pile it back in again?

Thanks, everyone, for your advice .
rhubarb yes, I probably could tip it all out - but it's not an appealing idea!
Haven't watched gw yet - will catch it on the iplayer later.

Silk I have plastic composters, and give the stuff a stir when I remember. Otherwise I just accept that it takes a it longer to rot down. I have seen things like giagantic screws that you can use, to mix it up underneath but I have always thought they liook like very hard work.

I went a bit mad today, and seem to have created a largish bed out of a smaller bed (that was full of Johnsons Blue and a pink geranium), and a bit of weedy lawn. It's all dug over but the soil is pretty dead: it has that grey look and very few worms.

Today's been beautiful so off early doors to see an open garden done bush style, which is what we want to do with the lawn at the back. Lots of good ideas, so we need to sit down and plan it all. This garden was all bush at the front and fruit and veg at the back. We'll have to mix our back garden: it'll be a right dog's breakfast of veggies, exotics, cacti and bush.

We are not tidy gardeners.

More prosaically, the bay tree and avocado were re-potted, as was a jacaranda DH bought at least 4 years ago. I thought it was getting leggy, and going to pick the pot up saw it had grown through the potholes into the soil. Thank God we're on sand. Anyway, I bonsai-ed its roots and re-potted. It's stupidly tall and spindly because it's been ignored for years, so we'll see what happens. Planting it in the yard is not an option as it would grow into a big, wide tree; NOT what we need over the veggie bed.

I have just googled bush gardens Echt, and they look spectacular. You have such amazing native plants available to you.

I saw that the are some that are also available to us like brachycombe. Do many traditional UK plants grow well where you are? I once saw RupertMurdoch's mothers garden that looked like an English garden but assume she must have a team of gardeners.

I adore Jacarandas, Echt. Hope it thrives for you in its new pot.

Week four of my early Sunday morning yew hedge cutting sessions along the roadside. It's an interesting time to be out. The birds are singing, the dew is glistening, and there are few cars (the whole point of doing it then) so it is wonderfully tranquil. The only other people around are dog walkers, old folks trundling to the early service at church, an odd runner and a number of cyclists. They are a friendly bunch and I have received many compliments on my hedge brutality. Many are the same faces each week; the cyclists especially seem to be enjoying watching the hedge's slow progress. The few cars that do come by are not in a hurry on a Sunday morning, generally, and are happy to wait a moment to get past if someone else is coming the other way at the same time, if I smile and nod. I've only experienced one twunt grump who tooted at me. There was nothing coming the other way so he wasn't really affected by me, but he made a great show of tooting 'to alert anyone coming the other way' as he went round the corner; completely unnecessary as there was nothing coming for a good ten minutes and they are all slowing down as they enter the village at that point anyway.

The hedge is nearly there. Easter Sunday should finish it off. Then I'll give it a good mulch of poo and hope for rapid sprouting to thicken it up.

Ugh, not enough paragraphing there, sorry.

I woke up this morning after the sort of week where I didn't see the daylight at home to a most glorious display in the front pots. The tulips turn out to be tall and white with fringed purple with forgetmenots in one pot and yellow with orange markings, primroses and more forgetmenots in other pots. The creamy white clematis 'avalanche' flowers have opened and are stunning, the pale green hellebore from Hillier is flowering prolifically. There is a dark maroon anemone, and at the back a maroon osteospermum has flowered, which looks extraordinary and the pieris flame coloured leaves set it all off. It is a lovely surprise.
Out the back, the understated planting for shade in the beds hasn't quite worked as the Amanagowa cherry blossom colour of a very pale pink doesn't fit with the white tulips, and the green tulips don't quite work with the white quince blossom, so I am going to move the tulips.
The cherry trees on the streets are heavily laden with blossom - it is a good year for them. Some are a mixture of white and candy floss pink but my favourites are the ones with black bark and white blossom and fresh green leaves showing through
Your allottment sounds very promising Lexi!
Echt your garden, like castlough's and humphrey's and maud's has a space in dreams all the better for being real.
Welcome all new posters and have some elderberry and please tell us lots of detail about your gardens!
I thought the plug plant thingy was Monty wanting to show off his antique man-gadget and not to be taken too seriously. Of course egg boxes are fine for us hoi polloi

Your tulips are looking stunning rhubarb.

Maud: Lawn edging.
Where there is an edge against a path something like this set into the ground so that only the sloping edge slopes down to the path seems to look best round where we are (co incidentally mum and I walked round last weekend looking at edging) The bamboo/plastic stuff seems a bit flimsy and doesnt last long.
www.diy.com/nav/garden/fencing-paving-decking/paving/edging/Driveway-Small-Kerbs-19-2lm-Red-125x125mm-13478833
I also quite like this
www.diy.com/nav/garden/fencing-paving-decking/paving/edging/Tile-on-Edge-Edging-10-8lm-Mellow-Terracotta-450x225mm-13478850

Hmm. That tile on edge edging is very lovely but I'm not surfeit would look right, as the hard surfaces are dark slate, and I don't think it would cope with the raised nature if the beds.

I have decided I must have cerinthe this year so am going out to buy seeds.

I have also thanks to tweenage dd finally worked out how to post photos onto FB so will soon be asking your help in identifying a mystery seedling.

Agh. Surfeit should read sure it.