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!

Let me know when you go I will come too and if rhubarb and blackpudding come we can buy them some late cake!

Why is Gardener's World on at 9.30? I thought 8.30 was the perfect time; just enough to get home from work, do jobs, have supper and sit down with a coffee. I also find it silly to watch a cooking programme at supper time.

Splendid idea!

Yes I agree 9.30 is too late. I think it's just while the cake off thing is running.

Standen sounds lovely Maud. Thanks for that description.

Standen isn't too far from us, but we don't go very often. Our first trip around 1990 put us off for a long time - at that time the garden was small and dull and very pompous and unfriendly volunteers in the rooms. I love Arts & Crafts too, but find Standen hideous from the outside, especially from the garden. It is nice inside though.

Last time we were there the garden had been improved, and I did enjoy it. However in that area if you only have limited time I would visit Sheffield Park, Wakehurst Place or Nymans in preference.

Happy birthday Bertha, and too bad about the paint, rhubarb.

Here's the back yard tea-tree:again the light is rather harsh. In the foregound is the sea of mulch with teeny-tiny native shrubs that will all grow about .5 or 1metre high and wide, the begins of our native garden, after the spectacular failure of the lawn

Oops. I might have gone overboard on the description, but I do like Standen. I think Bearleigh is right in that the three she mentions are better as gardens, but even with the improved garden (which I haven't seen) Standen is really about its interior.

Oh that tree is wonderful I like the way it bunches out at the bottom. Silly question does it have a fragrance like tea tree oil and do the leaves have antiseptic properties?

rhubarb in your shoes I would stick with the french grey. The colour will change with weathering and you will see it differently.

so your tea trees are not like mine indoor one ? Can you make the ess. oil out of the leaves? They must smell amazing in the heat.

Oh dear rhubarb maybe look at the paint that houses of the same age had originally?

Feel sympathy for me I'm an hour later so GW starts at 10.30 which is my bedtime but they repeat it this morning or Sunday I can't remember which. What's wrong with 6.or 7 pm ?? Mr Beeb??

No no 6 or 7 is too early, I'm not back from work by then. But yes, 8 or 8.30 would be just fine,

I missed yesterday's GW so will be relying on iPlayer.

Thank you for the birthday wishes. Agree 9.30 was too late for GW, I was ready for bed by then. I have another prolapsed disc in my back so not in a good way and my bed was calling me early last night.

No gardening will be happening here for a while other than what I can direct DH to do, but I did manage to gather some blooms from the cut flower bed. I am loving these, so bright and cheery and last for ages once cut.

Happy birthday from me, and sympathy, too Bertha. Those flowers are lovely.

Lucky you with a cut flower bed, are they asters Blackpudding ? Have some pretend flowers for your birthday and wish you better.

I like GBBO and AS but it seems to be taking over the airwaves It's also getting less 'easy viewing' IFYSWIM.

Bertha belated birthday wishes, sorry about your back.

rhubarb sorry about the paint, is it really that bad?

tunip welcome, your garden sounds lovely

Travelled back yesterday, dd2 had succumbed to the bug on the car journey back! Despite rain and illnesses it was a lovely holiday mainly because of the 3 other families we went with, I do hate camping though!

Although I didn't make it to any of the lovely gardens Dh felt sorry for me and we popped in to Hardy Exotics Nursery. A few plants caught my eye - Disporum sessile, and Cuppressus cashmeriana. Didn't buy any though, car too full. I have a map and Cornwall gardens guide, if any one is visiting I'm happy to pass it on.

I love returning and after only a week it's amazing how much has changed- Morning Glory doing better, 1 gladiola is out, the pear tree has dumped 80% of its fruit which is rotting on the grass! The cosmos are massive and largely laying messily across the paths, I like messy!

I like messy too Geoff I wish you'd tell dh, he's a bit of a slash and burn merchant and tells our gardener\helper to cut down stuff which he 'forgets' to tell me about The poor guy doesn't know who to listen to! Unluckily my french is no way as good as dh's!!

The cyclamen are looking lovely all round our acacia tree in the woodland border garden and my valerian are STILL blooming (i dead headed them and here there are again!) and the ice plants are coming into bloom plus the buddleia is responding to it's trim by flowering again. All in the same 'overgrown' area . This summer has been amazing .

Hello! Sorry I went a bit awol...I got lost in the format change and couldn't get to the end of the thread for ages and lost track. Had a quick skim through everything I missed now, echt I love your tea tree and blue walls. Adore the jardins majorelles in Marrakech and how vibrant they are, that blue is amazing.

rhubarb have you thought about a sage green colour for your windows? There's a village in east yorks where all the houses have the same woodwork, can't remember which one now, but it's a gorgeous sage green. I'm hoping our windows will last us through the winter then they'll need some serious tlc next year - the ones at the front are noted in the listing so I'm a bit scared by the responsibility of maintaining them.

Turnip the scale of your overgrown garden sounds intimidating and makes me feel better about my wilderness. We have the most amazing hibiscus in flower at the moment, it must be 8/9 feet tall and covered in pink flowers.

I've been ransacking the hedge for fruit for various river cottage recipes and have loads of sloes, wild apples, blackberries, haws, elderberries and rosehips so far. There's also some kind of plant with little knobbly star-like fruit on it. Any ideas? I'll try and take a pic and post it later.

Sorry, I feel like I am asking a lot of questions and not able to contribute much. If anyone wants the hedgerow jelly recipe I'm using then I can share it. Also makes a nice sauce which my one year old loves in yoghurt (he loves tart fruits, funny thing!)

I saw a really pretty little front border in a sloping south front garden yesterday: all blue plants: gentians, cornflowers, lithospora, veronica, all that bright royal blue which is uncommon in the garden, little creeping plants, perfect for rambling down a slope. It cheered me up no end.

I forgot to say Welcome to turnip.

I need to start making some chutneys, I have tomatillos and green tomatoes (have blight again so need to rescue what I can). I'm also going to send DH and the DDs out blackberry picking tomorrow. Apples are ready for picking too I think.

Does anyone freeze raspberries? We're not keeping up with them but only DD1 likes jam so I need other raspberry storage/use options. Humphrey, what do you do with yours?

Forgot to say Happy Birthday bertha!

I'm having a happy morning planting out: saxifrage, lysimachia clethroides, achillea monpagoda, the annabelle hydrangea, erigeron, phlox mount fuji, anemone honorine joubert have all gone in the ground in the white border in the places where the pots have been lurking this last month! I'm saving a spot for Coopers Burmese rose to be planted out next spring.

Later on today I'm going to move the echinacea tomato soup and sedum which are not thriving in their shady spots, and plant them out in the sunny front with the helenium wadraut.

Geoff it's a shame you didn't get to see more gardens in Cornwall: we go to not far from Penzance regularly, and one that I recommend especially if you have children is Trengwainton. There's a long drive with a stream that you walk up that I adore -wonderful rhythmic planting -similar plants sort of repeating. Excellent café too, and it's got lots to interest children in the vegetable garden if you get to that area again. Were there still lots of agapanthus flowering in Cornwall?

Bertha I freeze raspberries. I think raspberry crumble is a rare delicacy, especially in the dark days of winter.

Planning on making Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's lemon verbena drizzle cake today with the same mistake as last year when I put all of the large handful of leaves into the cake, rather than saving most for the syrup. It turned out very green but tasted sensational.

bearleigh I wish I'd asked for recommendations now, that sounds delightful, the day allocated for a garden visit was wet and miserable so we ended up down a tin mine! Lots of Agapanthus still in flower and looking really good mixed with grasses.

funny you did well with your planting, I managed a few forget-me-nots and Munstead Lavender, these have gone in the south border by the pergola. I've got loads more to do but need to weed a bit first.

We're off to Wolverton garden manor show today I am twitching to buy something.

A lovely pre-spring day, with the Aldi Heinz-variety tulips blooming.

I repotted the kaffir lime and ponytail palm, neither of which had been seen to for at least three years. A sad plants unit bambusa oldhamii was put in the back corner to give us cover when NDN eventually cut down the useless but massive loquat that never fruits because the possums eat all the flowers, but gives us cover from their back to back neighbour (we're at the top of a sand dune so overlook every one and are similarly looked up upon IYSWIM). It will be a monster - but a clumping one. We do quite a lot of pre-emptive planting in anticipation of the removal of cover by neighbours, or manic renovation by the same.

One of the agave attenuata I chopped off and stuffed into a pot of soil has, in less than three months, got to the bottom of a 10" pot and struck off for parts unknown. I am amazed they are so expensive to buy when big, as they cost zilch to grow. I suppose it must be the space they take up.They are spain as any brushing of the leaves causes bruising and general hissy fits.

Tomorrow is the first day of spring, a signal for temperatures to plummet. Yep, just checked on BOM, and indeed it will be 14 and 15 next week.:o
The rain will be good, though.

Am deeply of The RealMaud"s sloes. It's too warm for them here and I miss sloe gin. Medicinal purposes only, you understand.:o

Spain? I meant a pain.

echt You sound like you live on another planet let alone 'down under' . There is a definite feel of autumn here!

Bertha raspberry recipes; you can make a coulis and then freeze it, or sorbet (which is gorgeous). Then you can use the coulis for a trifle at Christmas time.

I've trimmed away the iris tubers which are taking space away from the new lavender in the little front suntrap garden under the post box. I think the whole garden would be taken over by irises, ivy, and cerastigma (sp.?) if I allowed it and I'm beginning to clear some of it from my stony garden in front of the house.