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!

I love irises. Could do without the ivy!

I love hearing about others gardens and dreaming about the time that mine looks like I would like it to. Since we have spent the last few weekends pulling out shrubs and pulling down trees at the back as well as digging out the base for the garage base it's not happening any time soon!

Currently everything is tucked away in a corner, the veg patch is under all the wood we saved for burning and half a border was run over. Also the digger and dumper truck have ruined the grass so am now going to be replacing that in spring oh well at least we will have more space on the patio and it is only temporary.

I have bought some stone for the garden though, it's a bit of york minister that's was removed for replacing, they auction it off once a year, it doesn't look like much but I love it's history!

Glad to hear that everyone that was ill is feeling better and catching up with gardens post holidays! Love hearing about veg as I can't grow it. I have managed a handful of beetroot this year which am planning on pickling today and some courgettes, the veg patch will be moving to a sunnier spot soon. The greenhouse toms are doing well though so can't complain.

Hello tunip I am also in north yorks so it will be lovely to hear how your garden is getting on!

I'm in 2 minds about ivy funny but it's brilliant for the wild life, the bees love the late flowers! I find it keeps some weeds down but not the truly fierce ones!

btw I bought one hydrangea petiolaris and one avant garde selection! So not what I thought ,they are lovely though and will look good once they're planted in the right place

Squeaky how fabulous to have a former bit of York Minster in your garden!

We went blackberry picking today: not many of them (obviously Others had been there before us) but lots of sloes, and lots of elderberries. One of my cookery books had a picture of elderberries in October, perkily pointing upwards, and then in November, when ripe, drooping down. All the elderberries we got were drooping, and beautifully ripe. Still August!

I watched a programme recently about (I'm pretty sure) York Minster where they were auctioning off surplus bits of ancient stone. Someone paid a fortune for a huge spire. Was that you, squeaky?

Hello again, I' m back ( with a new name ) for more advice.

2 of my fushias in my back garden have rust and are in a really sorry state. 1 has lost nearly all leaves and the other is on the way. Would it be really bad to cut them back now ( I usually leave it until the first shoots start coming through early in the year.) I gave taken some cuttings but I don't have much hope for them. It's really bad as I haven't been out in the garden for about a month holidays etc.

Wow a piece of York Minster in your garden! Now that's my kind of garden 'art'. Very

I'm rather shocked and sad about the state of the fruit trees in the orchard. I don't know what's gone wrong this year. There are hardly any Bramleys on and the ones that are there have all got creature holes in. Same with American Mother. Orleans Reinette are better but not brilliant. The Russet has done ok, but the leaves on it and on all the others don't look good at all. Something has clearly had a go at them. The pears have all dropped before I've got near them, and none of the new trees look healthy. The greengage leaves are being eaten by weird slimy things that I've never seen the like of before - they almost look like leeches

Any ideas?

They are saw fly larvae or fruit tree slugs rhubarb apparently don't damage the plant. Yuk. Could the reduction in apples this year be due to the plentiful amount last year 2 year cycle thing?

www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=163 doris this might help

Bearleigh I make elderberry syrup it's very good for colds and sore throats. I love my elder tree (there are great stories related to elders) it's traditional to have one by your house to fend off evil spirits etc.! We removed an overgrown cotoneaster and an elder was waiting to take it's place to shade the terrace, it's grown soo fast.

Thanks Geoff. I've never seen them before, they're really disgusting looking.

Bearleigh how do you make elderberry syrup? I've got a stinking cold so I could do with some of that!

We have gone for off-white for the window frames in the end. We tried a sage green colour, but it made the windows on the hanging tile wall kind of disappear.

Congratulations on buying your own bit of York Minster, Squeakyheart!
Do the sales happen every year? DH and I thought about it but decided it might be horrendously expensive.

We've had our first harvest from the new garden - damsons and apples.

I've spent this morning lugging compost from the back garden to the front and digging it into the border in the front garden where it was overgrown by shrubs. Fifteen buckets but it looks like a pitifully small amount. Still, every little helps.

We went to Nunnington Hall yesterday - our favourite National Trust garden - and also Yorkshire Lavender, where they sell the most amazing range of herbs I've ever seen.

Seconding elderberry syrup as a cold cure. I give it to the kids in spoonfuls as a placebo and drink it myself in hot water.

Good work with the composting Tunip. The borders will thank you. Tell us more about Nunnington Hall; I've never been there.

I think I might take the kids to Wisley tomorrow. If anyone else fancies it, shout.

I think it's ppeatfruit who can tell us how to make elderberry syrup rhubarb - I have some recipes but they are all rather old and tell me to boil my bottles after bottling Ppeatfruit could you let us have the instructions? I've heard such good things about elderberry syrup. I was planning to make elderberry curd.

Sorry to hear you're suffering rhubarb - I find Yogi Tea Ginger & Lemon is briliant for colds - it can stop me getting one if I drink a few cups early enough, and otherwise it makes me feel a lot better. It also tastes rather nice.

Rhubarb You pick loads of the berries (Don't worry about removing the stalks) then give them a quick wash to remove insects etc... throw them in a heavy saucepan with fruit juice ( i use low sugar because dh has pre type 2 diabetes) and fructose I don't measure it,it depends on how sweet you like it then boil for approx 6 mins. until the fructose or sugar has melted nicely. Then just put it through a muslin or sieve.

Ugh sorry not reading things properly.

Lemon and ginger tea sounds nice. I'll look out for that.

X post. Great, thanks ppeat.

Cross post ment...
thanks ppeatfruit - does it keep?

Rhubarb make sure it's Yogi tea's version - Twinings is pure falvourings and doesn't work whereas Yogi uses real ginger and other hot spices and lemon

I was contemplating Wisley on Wednesday Rhubarb (if my back up to it), I would go tomorrow but have no dog care options unfortunately.

I've yet to find any elderflower trees near here. I love elderberry wine cordial.

It won't keep for very long with the fruit juice\fructose combo but obviously would keep longer if you used proper sugar, either way it has to be refrigerated. It is an idea to boil the jars and tops (or pour boiling water into them then leave I do that and it's fine You can also add some citric acid for keeping qualities as in elderflower cordial.

Echinacea is marvellous for colds too rhubarb buy the best supplement you can afford though. Also sniff up ess. oil of pepper mint for sinus trouble (not young children).

Sorry bear I forgot to mention put some filtered water in it not too much esp. if you're using fruit juice it must have a lot of natural pectin in it because it sets well and I don't add any pectin to it! After the boiling just simmer till it thickens WITH NO TOP ON (blimey I nearly forgot that and it's very important )

Oh, Nunnington is lovely, Rhubarbgarden! It's a 16th century house, not huge, but the garden is a mix of formal borders and topiary (and especially the Iris Garden) and orchards/wild flower meadows, together with an organic vegetable garden (including a Mud Pie Kitchen which is very popular with the children).
The planting is gorgeous and I really love the way the formal/wild areas interact - the main axis goes up through the middle of the lawn towards a path punctuated by yew topiaries, with symmetrical wild orchard areas on either side.
I'm most fascinated by how they use different treatments of lawn to mark out different areas - paths mowed through longer grass, etc. My new garden has a big rectangular lawn on one side, with a wilder area next to it with curving paths, apple trees, etc, and based on the way Nunnington works, I think what I need to do is sharpen up the formal aspects of the big plain lawn (maybe by punctuating it with topiary at the corners and figuring out how to make a visual focal point at one end) and then work out how to relate the wilder area to it more harmoniously. I just love the structure at Nunnington and my garden is full of lovely (if overgrown) things but all in a mishmash with no sense of overall design.

Where is Nunnington Tunip? Sounds worth a visit next time I visit blighty