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!

Funny I just looked up cotinus and my book says (if it's a "Royal Purple") that it's hardy ,likes full sun, and will have pretty smoky looking tiny pink flowers in the summer. Oh and prefers alkili soil and will become 12 ft tall if you let it!!l . So send it over 'ere if it's not right for you

Congrats Sugar . BTW DS and I take turmeric for hay fever symptoms if you're interested in natural remedies!! It is incredible!

Lol, ppeat fruit it is not Royal purple it is Cotinus 'Grace' . The leaves are a lovely orange with an underside of green. As you know I do not have full sun anywhere here so it is biding its time under the oak in its pot next to the echinacea purpura 'tomato' (whose flowers have paled in colour in the oak shade poor thing from a vivid red orange to a pale peach) and I suspect it will end up in the sun in mum's garden in the autumn.

But every so often I go into denial about the conditions in my garden and that is why I still have it, hoping that the sun will change its course in the sky!

I had to google cotinus grace it's lovely.

Tea and cake I'm in!

Does turmeric really work for hay fever ? I've suffered since I was 7, must try it next year.

A white Hibiscus fell into my basket at Aldi, I have no idea where to plant it. I need to cut back the Wisteria it's dangling over the front door and tickling us as we go out, our neighbour and dds headmaster has the ladder he's not great at returning things and I'm a bit scared of him

Yes Geoff and allergic reactions to cats etc.

Hibiscus is tender so maybe keep it indoors till the late spring. You're lucky with wisteria is it still in flower?

My wisteria is having a second flush that's better than the first one. Clearly it liked being hard pruned, bent to a 45 degree angle and tied to scaffolding.

Tell me more about turmeric & hay fever please ppeat. DD suffers quite badly, alternatives to filling her with anti histamines always worth looking at.

Fantastic raspberries at the moment. Huge and very tasty, plus I've got loads of them on my out of control raspberry thicket.

Me too Bertha - is it my imagination or are they early this year?

I sowed some white Pineapple strawberries in spring from the James Wong collection, and have harvested a few already. They are gorgeous! They are alpine strawberry type, so small, but with an unusual taste; a cross between pineapple and alpine strawberry. Next year they should produce lots of berries, and I am looking forward to it.

I think they are a few weeks earlier than last year. it does seem a bit too 'summer' for autumn fruiting raspberries.

The blackberries round our way are ripe and abundant in the gardens and woods already.

Time to make summer pudding if not already done so
www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/summer-desserts/summer-pudding.html

Comparison of summer pudding recipes

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/jul/06/how-cook-perfect-summer-pudding

Can I just say that I butter my dish, would never use clingfilm due to a horror of migration of plastic molecules, I do add a little sugar, I dont add cassis or jam or vanilla, bt if I have it, do add some MMe A Carriere rose water, I use any excess juice to make a coolie to go over with the cream and use local Wenzel's white bread sliced or Warburtons. Hovis doesn't work.

This year, as Wriggly Wrigglers edible hedging has performed with blackcurrants and redcurrants in mum's garden, and the raspberries have begun to appear in my veggie trough, our berries will be all home grown! I am thrilled to bits and feel quite old as I can still remember the days when most things I planted died and I didn't know who Delia was.

Summer pudding is my favourite pudding bar none. I don't butter the dish or use cling film. And they turn out fine. Our methods sound very similar funny. I also use the best white bread I can get. While I simmer the red currants and a small number of black currants I add the raspberries off the heat so they aren't really cooked. I do add other fruit too but barely cook them and also do add a little sugar. If I have the fruit I think a raspberry purée sauce adds a lot. And crème fraîche.

I've poshed up summer pudding in the past by using slices of plain pane tonne and oomph the fruit juices with cassis. Yum, yum.

Blackpudding You can get the supplements in HF shops but I just mix organic ground turmeric with olive oil to make a paste and have a couple of tspoons. with a glass of water at each meal.

Bearliegh You make my mouth water with those special strawerries!!

I get terrible belly ache from summer pudding now, so I make a lovely smoothie with the summer fruits and ground almonds and org pear juice. for breakfast.

Bearleigh those strawberries sound amazing. Mentally filing those away for next year - so my autumn shopping list for the orchard is a Pitmaston Pineapple apple tree, and pineapple strawberries!

I love summer pudding too. I've never made it myself though. Maybe I'll have a go on Friday; we'll be cooking for eight. Well, dh will be cooking, but he doesn't do desserts so if I want one I have to buy something or risk making something. Summer pudding actually sounds quite easy though, perhaps even I could manage it.

Don't forget to plant some pineapple sage Rhubarb - it amazes me how strong the scent is - and I smelled some blackcurrant sage at the weekend - gorgeous.

Hi my rose in front of the house has died...
hasn't flowered at all this year.
thinking of replacing it with a red currant bush. when would be a good time to get one?

maus I find it's always best to plant now or when the ground is still warm to give it time to gets it's roots down before the cold weather.

A tip for making summerpudding when I DID used to make it I and DM found it best to use cherries with the other fruit because it somehow 'sticks' better IFYSWIM.

Shame about your rose, welcome to club I'm putting banana skins round the base of mine and special bought 'food' so we'll see how they go.The really odd thing is I got given a standard one by a pepiniere and it's in a very stony bed, I've just pruned it and I throw the occasional bucket of rainwater over it and it's happy I don't understand Maybe it's the type of rose anyone ??

it was from the 'shelf of doom' but flowered lovely bright pink/red last year.
I fed and pruned it but it just didn't get going this year.

not a fan of summer pudding, we like stewed fruits with ice cream (hot + cold) or waffles or pancakes or all togther

Just catching up. Here's my first ever dahlia! SE karma fushiana - I'm so proud!

I have always spectacularly failed with summer puddings. They taste great but wouldn't get points for looks. They are lovely with a handful of mulberries in too.

No-one's summer puddings look good Bertha!

When my sister got married my mother insisted on SP as part of the buffet. At the time (1977) not many people had come across SP. Not one piece was eaten - not one*. They did look particularly bruised and sat upon, but did taste good when we hoovered up the remains later.

*A variety of puddings were on offer, including Black Forest gateau. Of course: it was 1977.

I will try again... SR Karma fushiana

Off to eat some Black Forest gateaux

nann beautiful, is it in the ground? How many did you get?

No summer pudding here, but I did make an apple crumble. Dh and I have picked most of the Bramleys, they came off very easily! I should have reduced the fruit on the pear tree, there are lots of very small fruit not worth bothering with. I do wish I'd had a pear tree when the dc's were weened they used to love pear purée.

NotAnother Iam of your dahlia, I have 2 pots out of 6 which are in leaf, I don't know if there'll ever be flowers

Ref. Summer pudding the cherries are the secret to a good looking one!

Summer pudding was lovely and looked fine with a sprig of mint and blackcurrant garnish. Black forest Gateau- how many years is it since I had that! Delectable!

That is a gorgeous colour dahlia nann. None of mine are in flower yet. One has been slugged. The other will hopefully perform. Many from last year didn't grow anything at all.