Tickle the earth with a hoe, and she will laugh with a harvest

[Rhubarbgarden]

Potting shed chat for all those interested in wittering on about gardens and sharing the love of plants. Plenty of dusty old deck chairs to sit on and sloe gin to warm the cockles; join us!

Yes propagate sounds about right! Thank you for the link

Oh, Humph! If I'd known you were in Normandy I'd have suggested meeting for an ice cream!

Oh squeaky that must be quite frustrating, nice campervan though! Nothing to suggest re Dh, mine is a bit of a hoarder to the point that repeated arguments led to us moving to a bigger house with a basement and a garage. He's pretty much filled them both in less than 2 years. He does tend to finish projects though. Is it too expensive to pay someone esle to do it?

I'm off to Cornwall, friends of Dh are gardenhouse sitting. Grass got cut yesterday and I've soaked all the pots, hope they get watered to my specifications but don't want to be too bossy!

Have a good holiday, Geoff! I think the fact that the weather is getting cooler and damper should help keep the garden in good shape.

Squeaky - I have nothing to suggest, apart from seconding the suggestion to get a handyman in to finish off the various jobs. We love camper vans here. Could you agree a deadline with your DH for getting it restored, say next summer? I'm quite jealous!

Maud, you weren't in Normandy too?? What a shame we didn't realise. WOuld have been so nice to meet up

Yes, we were staying near Flers but could have travelled to meet. Where were you?

I love Normandy, how funny you were both there at the same time. I'm near Fontainebleau at the moment and have also been enjoying the municipal planting. We have been to Paris and Disneyland this week and it was lovely there - Even DH commented. I'm seeing lots of dahlias around.

Normandy is beautiful but I am a bit fed up with their unpredictable weather. There's a reasonit's so green and lush! I would like to go back to the Vendee (which was our regular destination for several years) for some sun. Isn't that where you're going next?

It is and I feel encouraged now you have said that about the weather there! We haven't been before. Quiet day here today as we didn't get back till 1.30am. I plan to sit out on the roofed terrace thing and admire the plants in the courtyard later. There's a lovely row of lavender that wafts scent at you when you walk out the gate.

We were quite near Cherbourg. I just love the houses, DH and drive around swooning at how unspoilt and gorgeous all the stone houses are. Weather IS unpredictable but I hate being too hot so not all bad.

Enjoying lots of tomatoes, runner beans and courgettes at the moment. Made ratatouille yesterday with our own garlic (most failed but have rescued a few bits), onions, beans, courgettes and tomatoes. mmmmmm.

Home made ratatouille? Yum!

Bonjour everyone, we are in Brittany! Near Pont-Aven, it's lovely but the weather could be better.

Gardens here are all very neat, even on the caravan site we're staying at. Lots of laurel hedges, blue/mauve hydrangeas and trailing pelargoniums in pink & red.

I'm a pinner. I use it to see what all the colours of things I've bought will hopefully look like when they're grown, save links to things I might buy one day and ideas for the garden. I'll post a link when I get back.

Juney - congrats on your new garden. Do you like the basic shape & layout of it?

Bonjour, NANN! We had a lovely holiday near Port Aven when DD was tiny. We still have a framed poster from the museum in her bedroom.

I look forward to seeing your pins - DD has promised me a Pinterest tutorial for next week!

marrows marrows everywhere!!

Quite jealous of all you lovely holidays- I spent last week in a tent on my own with the children (in the lovely Golden valley) trying desperately hard not to vomit at any given opportunity as the children and my family don't know we are expecting yet. It was lovely but exhausting! I need a holiday to get over it.

Garden wise its all gone to pot, I need to spend some serious time out there sorting and tidying.
Oh and my tiny butterfly plants from GW arrived

Hello everyone our darling visitors have gone home, so i can back to normal now . It seems nearly tous le monde are in Fr. Just marking my place because I haven't read the back pages. If anyone here wants a good place to take L.O.s Futuroscope is a great place and cheaper than Disxx ( I can't write whole names because if I do I get load of cookies (or unwanted advertising) I think they're the same thing .

welcome realmaud :-)

My Lidl tulips (queen of the night) were fantastic last year, better than my fancy T&M ones. I might even go for the giant 5k bag of daffs this time. I don't really like daffs all that much, but when see everybody else's I get daff envy.

Maudant - which museum was it? So far we've been to the musem of fishing, the aquarium & the manor de kernault - all surprisingly entertaining for a 2 & 5yo!

Re French municipal planting, you're right it's so different and tres chic. My favourite examples have been huge clumps of agapanthus mixed with grasses; verbena bonesaris, dahlias and rudbeckia; Veronica and bright red & black petunias.

There is a garden centre near here, but I doubt I'll be able to drag the family along. There is also a lady selling stone carvings by the side of the road, who I determined not to miss!

I'm not at home at the moment, so can't check what it says on the poster, but it was whichever museum has the paintings of the Pont Aven artists.

I did go to a French garden centre and had an enjoyable poke around. They had some lovely glazed pots in beautiful colours - I really coveted an aubergine one - but the car was already full to bursting so I contented myself with a little glass lantern for the garden.

Yes Fr. municipal planting is generally lovely. There is one awful aberration though at the exit from the motorway in Chatellerault they removed a whole 'wood' of mature trees from a large roundabout to replace it with an enormous arm and hand (bright yellow the colour of marigold gloves) holding sprayed black RL smallish cars and nothing else except brighton beach type stones .

I love the perovskia they use a lot and am thinking of getting some!

maudant thank-you I have spent all day in a tent with poorly dd1 vomiting bug grr.

Oh the joys of parenthood Geoff In a tent too

Oh no, Geoff. A tent and a vomiting child is not a good combination. Hope she's better tomorrow.

We are not in France, nor a tent. Sympathies to vomitters and their families. And yy to French municipal planting. We go to the South of France every year in May and the roundabouts and verges are always beautifully done. Lots of verbena bonariensis this year, which is always a winner.

I am of Bertha about your scaffolding being gone. However, the repointing is finished, the replacement windows and French doors are in, and dh has almost finished the paint stripping. The window frame painting would have been further ahead had I not decided suddenly that I want poncey French Grey instead of plain old trade white. I hadn't realised it needs grey undercoat instead of the white they'd already done, so they are all having to be re-undercoated.

This has not made me popular.

I finally managed to get some time in the garden this weekend so I've finished the hedge cutting. Finally. I still need to get someone in to reduce the height of the Leylandii ones though, so that in future I can do the whole lot myself without having to get someone in to do the tops. My arms are aching.

But Rhubarb the French grey is very lovely! I would love timber window frames. We have white PVC. Will have to settle on stable and shed doors in French grey instead!

Lovely to hear about everybody's holidays.

Nightshade how you are doing a tent when you are so sick is beyond me! Serious hugs to you. You are a superhero!!!

Goodness. Everyone has been to France!
nightshade how anyone copes with a family in a tent in the rain is beyond me though as long as you are dry and have and have card games to play and sausages and good views it could still be an amazing memory (?)

I am back in the land of the living. I watered the dried out plants on return yesterday and I am pleased it is raining as the garden was parched but feel sorry for those outside.

I'm not entirely sure why I felt i needed a white Annabelle hydrangea which appears to have arrived in my absence. Would love to be out and about looking at Harlow Carr etc even though it is raining but the car is locked up at the surgery. Oh well...will just have to rest and read 'To Yew or not to Yew' which also arrived!

French Grey sounds lovely!