A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!

[MaudantWit]

Join us for ongoing gardening chat in the MN potting shed. Blow the cobwebs off a deckchair, help yourself to a glass of elderberry champagne and tell us about your garden.

How lovely! Raspberries (and apricots) are my favourite fruit.

These are supposed to be autumn-fruiting raspberries. Isn't it a bit early?

Ppeat could you complain to the supplier and get replacement apricot trees? Trees aren't cheap.

Yes, I would urge you to try for a refund/replacement. I got a credit note for my David Austin rose that was not the advertised variety.

Well I could.... but i bought it 7 years ago from a very lecherous nurseryman in a monthly market in the next village to us. i'll put up with it i reckon the trees weren't that expensive!!

What i have learned here is that the stall holders tend to say what you want to hear . I was told the rambler rose would be happy 'anywhere' !!!! I don't take any notice now!

Ah, 7 years is probably too long ago to complain, especially in those circumstances!

yes that's the problem with trees they take awhile many years to start fruiting properly anyway David Austin is reputable Maud did you get a refund?

Well, I got a credit note from the garden centre that sold it to me. As I didn't have the receipt - does anyone really keep
the receipts for plants? for a year? - that seemed fair enough.

Yes a good garden centre is a better bet BUT i stupidly bought some pretty heathers (blinded by the lovely colours and optimism) I believed the salesperson in Jardiland who said they'd be fine in calcareous soil, they've lasted 6 months, 3 of those as brown crunchy things! I've put marguerites in their place and already they look happy . This is in our very front south facing little garden under the post box that i try to keep weed free

I've cut back the bay trees, rosemary and sage bushes. Now I smell like a mediteranean stew...

You can hang up the cuttings to dry them and use them in your mediteranean stews! Or fresh of course!

They are all gone now! But there's still plenty left in the garden to cook 100 stews ...

Mary Keen wrote an article not long ago about being sent the wrong varieties from even the most reputable nurseris, so I suppose a bloke on a market stall is even less likely to be reliable. What a pain though.

On the other hand, you can buy apricots in the shops, but can't often find cherry plums - I bought mine from a National Trust property with very old trees. two years, later passing at the same time, they didn't have any.

Our local garden centre replaced our garden fork, without a receipt, when the handle broke. It must have been 6 years old at the time. I was very impressed and have kept going back ever since.

But originally it was covered in apricot leaves! I reckon it was probably grafted onto a plum tree.
It's worth their while having good customer service. It makes a great difference. You're right about cherry plums I've never even heard of them

uptoapoint I meant to say i love raspberries and apricots too oh and blackberries, it's a great year for fruit

I've grown some strange plants from seed that I'm pretty sure were not lavender ice- they went on the compost.

I'm also guilty of mislabelling plants, 2 salvias turned out to be Cleomes.

Have identified the butterfly as its on the front page of GW, a peacock. I have seen them before but never in my garden. Of course butterflies migrate I knew that, not really

The butterfly plant offer looked good, I'll probably order too.

Love Rhaspberries, mine are finished till the Autumn ones. Lots of blackberries yet to come though.

On the subject of apricots, I've just read in the local rag that an orchard has been planted and is doing very well, soon to be supplying supermarkets. Had my first dip in the sea today it was almost as warm as the med!

Ive sent off for the butterfly plants as well, Hopefully some will survive.

I am resisting the butterfly plants as I am assuming they will be miniscule and i will kill them before they're big enough to be planted out. If they turn out to be really big, healthy plants please don't tell me.

Copper, my autumn fruiting raspberries are also starting to fruit. They did last year too but start quite slowly and then really get going later on.

I need to get into the orchard to check on the mulberry as I'm worried I'm missing the fruits. However, the weed tree things that grow over the fence have morphed into a thicket this year and I can't actually get through them. I'm sending out DH tomorrow with the brush cutter to beat me a path to the orchard.

Blackpudding If the 'butterfly plant' is a buddleiia then they grow quite fast it's worth getting them for the insects. You can trim them back if you need to and they love it.

It's a butterfly friendly plant offer from GW ppeat. 48 plants - mix of things like salvia, nepeta, echinacea, and germs etc.

Ah, that would be 'geums' not germs of course.

Amazing it was originally an apricot: mind I have a rose that was a rather nasty bright red the first year and is now a lovely deep crimson. And one year Chiltern Seeds sent me 'Malva Moschata Alba' that was actually a Common Mallow. That year we went to the Rose Society garden in St Albans, and they had a lot of Common Mallow in the display, so I wondered if they'd had the same batch.

Oh I need to get GW as I would like more butterflies even though they scare me, fluttery things do unfortunately!

I have been renovating a very old wooden table in order to encourage sitting out more, unfortunately I used the wood stain DH had and don't like it. I knew I wouldn't really as I love everything in a medium oak but it was there and I have been meaning to do it for ages, oh well tableclothes it is

Recently read a book where madam Alfred carriere was left at the scene as a clue!

Squeaky - if you can wait until tomorrow, I'll PM you the link to the Thompson and Morgan website where you can order the plants (unless you're desperate to buy the magazine, that is!)