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!

Nerines are so lovely, but I tried them in the ground and also in a rather lovely shallow bowl, and the outcome was always the same - death by mollusc.

I like your dd's name very much, Rhubarb. My mother assumed that we would name dd Flora, given my passion for gardening. We didn't.

Thank you! I love Flora.

I think it's mollusc mating time, I keep finding them dtd, I haven't got the heart to stamp on them but have been separating them and hoping the birds cart them off. I've also been feeding baby slugs to Tim the robin - he's getting quite tame now.

Does anyone grow Calla lillies? I was given some by a colleague of Dh's and have identified them by leaf. This is the second year and they haven't flowered. I wonder if I should treat them like Dahlias and bring them in for the winter?

geoff i was wondering the same thing

My neurones aren't flowering now you come to mention it. Boo.

On a more positive note, Monty seems to be doing another tour of 'An Evening with Monty Don' that Rhubarb & I saw last year. We both enjoyed it, I think. He is in Crawley on 31 October, for example.

I haven't found any molluscs dtd but I did find a huge heap of snail eggs today when I lifted a slate that has been lying on one of the beds. If they're still there tomorrow - I'm hoping birds will eat them - I'll have to take decisive action.

My once magnificent clump of zantedeschia has dwindled over the years and (now that I think of it) hasn't flowered for a very long time. It came as a division from my parents' garden. I occasionally buy rhizomes of the black ones to grow in pots, but I tend to treat those as summer bedding and bin them in the autumn. Overwintering them in a greenhouse might help.

The RHS website mentions that Calla/arum/zanteschia need plenty of food and water to flower so maybe it has just been a bit too dry for flowers. It also mentions that the white forms are hardy but the coloured forms need to be lifted in for the winter like dahlias.
Canna lilies are different (I used to get confused as the names are so similar) and according to the RHS again like lots of water and food and can be left outside overwinter in a sheltered frsot free spot with a mulch otherwise bring in like dahlias. I noticed that Monty planted some of his orange cannas in the flower beds where the dark veined foliage provided interesting structure and colour in the bed and I am going to do this with my ones in pots in the spring next year.

Nearly time for the compost heap to yield its first year's doings: I propose to mulch the beds in late October. What with all the worms and garotta and last years leaves and lawn clippings and nettles it should be fit for purpose and if it isn't that heap is going.

Yes I get them muddled too, I have no idea what colour they are, but the leaves have white speckles on them. I'm going to bring the ones in a pot in and leave the ones in the ground with a mulch. I haven't fed them at all so that could be the reason. They are also acquired from division so maybe they need a while to get going.

I don't have canna but remember Monty planting them with his Dahlias, Next year I'm planning to use the biggest pots I have at the front of my house for Dahlias and mix with a Canna.

Does any one need Cosmos seed? I grew mixed this year but my favourite have been purity and a dark pink one. Assuming they grow true I'm just getting seeds from those. One Purity in particular is taller than me with much bigger flowers than the others.

maudant you were meant to get a voucher from Hayloft, they emailed me a link because you'd recommended me but by that time I'd already placed an order from their website, so I guess that's why it didn't happen!

Oh well. It's not as if I'm short of plants!

Callmegeoff, I would love some cosmos seed, if I may.

The weather here is gorgeous today. It rained heavily through the school run and now it's sunny and lovely and my new grass is very happy indeed! I have to wait in for the delivery of my garden shredder, which means I have an excuse to weed in the front garden instead of doing anything useful in the house

I too love your DC's names Rhubarb.

I wanted Rosamund for DS if he was a girl but DH vetoed it.

Gorgeous blue sky weather here too! The Gaura is reflowering which is simply lovely and the cyclamen are prolific under the yellowing oak tree!

All the roses are putting on new growth, presumably because of the warmer weather. Many of the birds have left for warmer climes though. It is noticeably quieter in the mornings.

I have to put together a planting plan for the front garden. Because it is a small space my usual technique of planting plants as I get them wont really work.

Planting plan a good idea FP. I too take the planting as I go along approach.making progress with the area by the compost bins now neighbour has put the fence up. Emptied one of the bins totally and working on moving the other two.

Need to decide once I can see the space without the compost bins there if I want a couple of raised beds or do something else . A friend was trying to get me to go to the Market and look at plants but I stood firm as have a few plants dotted around that aren't doing too well where they are and could be tried there. I have a Callicarpa I'd like to put there but not sure how much sun it will get there.

The compost has worked pretty well and I should have enough to do raised beds and also have a handy pile of top soil too.

I also plant as I go along, but I have adapted that dictum about not buying clothes if you do not know what you will wear them with, to not buying plants unless I know where (and with what) I will plant them.

Well having said I wouldn't go plant shopping I went to the pet shop as had to, which happens to be in a garden centre.

That shrub in friend's garden which we thought was Myrtle is Elaeagnus ebbingei. And very luckily they had it half price right in front of me at £4. So I bought it.

Have put it in pot in front of the fence and the Callicarpa. Found a pot of Honeysuckle I had dug up. It had grown loads and layered itself so have two of those. Must dig up my clematis and move that plus have a Chaenomeles which isn't keen on where it is plus a climbing rose to transplant.

I'm trying to do this without spending much then I will be less irritated about twat neighbour and his hedge cutting antics and create something that looks better than it did in time. Total spend so far is £4.

Good bag on the myrtle!

I love chaenomeles.

My problem is that I come up with planting plans and then don't stick to them.

Oops, I mean the not myrtle.

BTW, what do you think of this thought:

If I plant rhubarb right next to my compost heap, it will benefit from the nutrient-rich soil and also crowd out any nettles that might be tempted to take up residence. Yes?

I love chaenomeles too, but both plants that I was given died. I think I should have grown them into bigger sturdier plants before condemning them to my awful soil.

That rhubarb plan sounds good to me, as long as the triffid-like rhubarb doesn't stop you getting to the compost heap itself!

Sharing a picture of the sunflower in the cutting bed as it cheers me slightly every time I pass it. It's about 8 foot tall.

Wow Bertha that's fabulous. One of our neighbours always grows masses of sunflowers and they are just so cheery.

One of my cosmos has decided to flower, 4 months after being planted. It's a clear white seashells type and very pretty and fresh. I think it got slugged as a young plant.

I like that rhubarb idea. I might copy it. Mine is looking soft and bendy after a year in a pot.
Nice sunflowers!
Mum's rudbeckia is flowering tall and yellow outside dad's wndow, I'm so pleased I stopped her 'weeding' it out.

Sunflowers look beautiful Bertha. Mine always get eaten.