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!

Had a good look at the cottage borders and decided what needs to go. Will take out all the purple sage which has gone all woody in the middle, split the penstemon clumps, sort out the older hollyhocks and replace with seedlings moved back into position, try to keep the height down by the paths and think of something to replace the oriental poppies which all seemed to get some kind of rot this year and have now virtually disappeared. I will really miss them, I adore those flowers.

We need to put in some late flowering tulips I think. Saw an Arne Maynard garden in Derbyshire that had a pink/purple combination that looked wonderful, I always thought that would be nice. I will have a look. I was also going to get an orange early tulip to go in the front with all the white ones.

Sort of free, you have to buy something which entitles you to Dutch monarch and colour burst 10 of each code FREETULAU14

That's very tempting - the Hayloft catalogue is full of things I would like (but probably have no space for).

Argh I seem to have spent ninety odd pounds on bulbs

DH wanted 150 Allium Purple Sensation and 100 Allium Multibulbosom for the cottage borders. I have got 70 General De Wet for the front borders and 60 Orange Emperor for the herb beds. After looking at photos of last may I realised that there is little room for late tulips in the cottage borders.

Not sure when I am going to plant all these tulips!

Eek! That sounds lovely but, as you say, an awful lot of planting. What is your soil like? Can you use a long-handled bulb planter to save your back? I bought a bulb planter years ago but our solid clay soil broke it - just one of the reasons I now do bulbs in pots.

The front garden is nice soil and the herb beds are raised, so should be ok! I had my first day off today but totally failed to do any gardening. I went into school to help and it was so lovely to see everyone again. The best bit was swanning out of the door with one teeny handbag. In the afternoon I did a massive clear out of toys and clothes so order is restored for five minutes

I will let DH plant all those alliums.

I seem to remember we planted the white early tulips (can't remember what they are) really deep so that we could put other stuff in on top.

If anyone sees any allium offers please let me know. I need to replace all those that didn't come up this year but don't want to spend heaps on them again.

The long bed is looking pretty right now viewed from the right angle and from a distance with asters, sedums, grasses, japanese anemones, VB and cosmos all working well together.

Still haven't bought any tulips.

GW for postage Bertha

I'm thinking of a bulb planter, but heavy clay here. Soil is ok at the moment but need to get stuck in soon, I read that there are only 2 times to dig clay - spring before it bakes hard and Autumn before it gets water logged. Although I had big plans of tulips and forget-me-nots, I'm a fair weather gardener so not sure I'd be able to leave it till Novenber I might just do them now.

I have some Purple sensation to come, ordered ages ago from Sarah Raven. I love Alliums.

Your long bed sounds lovely bertha

Tesco Dahlia finally in flower !

Lovely! I need to get something else to keep the autumn colour going, but what? My dahlias always fail (eaten by slugs long before earwigs become a problem), I don't like chrysanthemums or asters ...

Meanwhile, though, the berries on the Callicarpa are looking splendid.

That's very pretty, Callmegeoff!

maudant Heathers? Fuschias? Rudbeckia?

I've just wandered out in the garden and have been admiring my black pansies- they are soo black. I've put them with Crocosmia and an orange primula I had lurking around!

A bit later I am intending to plant up some Autumn pots but first dc's rooms need a massive sort out .......I might be a while!

I LOVE chysanths esp. that specific scent which is hard to find with the 'new' varieties (i never grow them though) the fr. have a 'thing' about them being for funerals and sell huge pots of them for remembrance day.

I like asters too sorry Maud !;I bought a michealmas daisy plant from the lady in the market because I only get ones that don't flower just seem to go straight to seed and as much as I pul them out spread happily.

I love that Dahlia, it's a shame the other 4 didn't flower, have leaves though so I'm planning to dig them up and start them off in the greenhouse next year.

I know the problem with cheap bulbs and plants is that they are often not labelled but for me that's part of the fun of it. The Ballerina rose was £2 from Aldi called pink rose , I identified it at a recent garden Fayre a standard one costing £30!

Oh yes that dahlia is lovely Geoff I am still awaiting mine!

Right. Have just spent the credit voucher I received for the rose that wasn't as specified on a dahlia Fascination (cerise pink) and some herbs. We shall see whether I can keep the molluscs at bay ..,

I just popped into the garden centre for a bit of lawn seed and got seduced by garlic and onion sets

Ha! That's the joy (and the penalty) of going to garden centres!

Lovely Dahlia Geoff.

Maud how about Schizostylis for late summer colour? We went to Nymans this afternoon at dd's request (who am I to say no!) and they had it there, looking lovely in borders with Rudbeckia, grasses and Perovskia. I put some pics up on FB; there is Schizostylis in the last one.

The Magnolia Sargentiana robusta there was awesome. It was covered in huge vivid pink seed pods, each one the size of a banana.

Yes, schizostylis could be just the thing, although, now you mention it, I had a couple of clumps when I first planted this garden and it died out. It's a south African plant, isn't it? It's hard to replicate south African conditions in cold, wet London clay!

Oooh I meant to post about those after we went to Nymans a couple of weeks ago. They are amazing aren't they? I don't recall having seen them on previous trips to Nymans at this time of year.

Wonderful that your dd wants to go there Rhubarb: BabyBearleigh always loved it: there aren't any obviously child-friendly things to do but so many opportunities to do things like playing hide& seek, and running down hills. And lots of flowers.

That is a gorgeous dahlia geoff: hopefully the rest will come along next year and look as good.

It is South African, yes. It did ok in my London clay before we moved though; might be worth another try?

Yy to hide and seek opportunities! And fountains, little paths to run along, giant topiary to marvel at and exciting plants like that weird Magnolia. I think there's loads for little kids in gardens, and I think it's sad that many people (not on this thread obviously!) assume they won't be interested and bypass gardens to head straight for the adventure playgrounds.

I have friends who do this and who think my children are 'unusual' in loving gardens. I try to persuade them to give it a try and see, but they don't.