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!

My dahlia tubers were given to me by a neighbour and they'd been in the open air from the last year, I've always hankered after them so I'm that there's been no joy with them and I don't know enough about them to say how they should be treated.

As another organic gardener funny how would you treat leaf curl on your cherry plums?

Well I dont have any cherry plums ppeatfrut but a quick trawl though the internet reveals that curly leaf on plum trees is due to aphids which can be controlled non chemically with blasts of water. If it were me I would use warm soapy water. An alternative is neem oil.

Oh you have all been really busy! I have never really fancied summer pudding but you all make it sound lovely, of course I only managed to harvest five raspberries and a small handful of alpine strawberries so would have to buy in.

Have been working on a fence at the front by painting it and attaching a trellis to make it look a bit more loved, then DH informs me it will probably be pulled out to get the skip in for the garage base being dug out must communicate more!

Still waiting for next door to paint the fence! All plants for this border now struggling in the pots and all seedlings intended for it either dead, half the size they should be or planted somewhere else, oh well!

Thanks funny actually I don't think they are cherry plums (HughFW had a plum cherry on his prog. and they weren't growing in the same way at all!) still they are of the plum family so your remedy would be fine.

Squeaky I'm like you with plants without homes: we recently had overgrown leylandii removed and there is now a horrid,wire, ancient broken bamboo and corrugated iron fence opposite the kitchen window so we can't ignore it!! We'll have to replace I've bought some plants that like sun but I can't plant until the fence is done

Mmm, summer pudding! I've just found a few blackberries in the garden. Also needed some flowers for a neighbour and think I have been a little unfair on my dahlias. Have a feeling the ones I bought only get to 5cm wife and they have opened to roughly that now. They looked quite nice with some other bits.

We're off tomorrow do finally chucked in the last of the strawberries I bought ages ago. Been deadheading as much as possible and cat sitters have instructions to pick sweet peas, courgettes and beans.

It really feels quite autumnal here today. Lots of spiders coming in, mushrooms in the garden and it sounds like autumn. Not sure exactly what I mean by that but I think it's to do with less birdsong and buzzing bees.

That is a lovely bunch of flowers sugarplumtree. We've brought sweet peas indoors too, they have a lovely scent.
Yes it feels autumnal here: windy and rainy and cold and the flowers aren't looking that summery though I think with my north facing shady patch it probably has a shorter summer than other gardens.

I was envying the 'love your garden' episode with a white garden planted all flowery all at once. My garden is never like that and never will be. I really don't like those programmes where thousands of pounds are spent and with massive labour and designer input as if ordinary folk could ever hope to replicate the effect. Not that they ever give you a planting plan. . The trouble is when Gardeners world is thin on the ground there are no other gardening programmes to watch.

Anyway I gave in and ordered an 'annabelle' hydrangea and some white phlox 'mount fuji' (very blowsy) from crocus and some more echinacea 'white swan', and some heleniums 'waltraut' and an aster for the sunny border, in self defence. Just need to make sure they get planted.

The hibiscus is flowering beautifully. It and the sweet peas and fuschias are about the only thing atm.

anyone know what this is? comes over from the neighbours. tiny purple&yellow flowers and red berries. the green bits look a bit like potatoes

don't know why the other picture didn't come up

I've been googling types of solanum but can't find any images of the berries to see if its one of those maus have you nicked a cutting ?

Lovely picture sugar

Autumny here too, lots of things in flower though. I rescued some poorly camelia type plants from the borders earlier this year, previous owners planted them, put them in pots. One is just coming into flower so pleased about that.

very good geoff interestingly they are also called 'potato tree'. have not taken cuttings, but there are a few seedlings in my border.

Squeaky I can sympathise with the dead seedlings... I've had a busy fee weeks. Just saw guests off this afternoon and the first thing I did was attempt to rescue my aubretia/forget-me-not seedlings that I'd done so well with earlier in the year. What I thought was a lost cause may not be though! The withered aubretias seem to be regenerating (amazingly) so I filled 3 unused window boxes with what's left of my seedlings in the hope that they'll do better than they were in their plug pots and survive until the spring...

My best success at the moment, is my tiny apple tree. It has the reddest apples on it! Not quite ready yet but they look fab!

Rhubarb I love hearing about your orchard plans!

Funny the white plants you have ordered sound fabulous.

House building/ progress has been very trying over the summer and garden has been very sidelined. Must get back to thinking about it now as diggerman is arriving tomorrow to install septic tank and generally move earth and DH has said to 'think about the landscaping'. Grrr. Wish he had given me some warning...

Maud, solanums are great. One of my favourites and semi evergreen. Although mine has leapt off the fence again and has been lying partially across the drive for a week awaiting attention. Every day DH and I say, 'must put the plant back up', and still it doesn't get done.

Still picking my sweet peas too. Two bunches on table for DD's birthday party today but I don't think any of the children noticed so for me really

iPad self corrected Maus to Maud there

I can't remember, Maus. Do you have little children? If so, make sure they don't eat the solanum berries as (like potato and tomato) it's a relative of deadly nightshade and the berries are toxic.

That's a lovely case of flowers, Sugar.

Hydrangeas are everywhere here in France. A lot are that unpleasant sludgy pink or greyish blue, but there's a lovely one - much used in municipal plantings - with conical heads of pink and white flowers. I might try and track it down, although it's really too big for my garden (I think, reluctantly, that the hydrangea quercifolia has to go, as it's outgrown its place).

Maus your plant may be Black Nightshade, Solanum nigrum. We had that in our garden.

thanks.
dc are primary age.
they have/had 'no picking no licking' drilled into them so I'm not too worried about them trying to eat the berries.

Well, nearly spring, though not official until 1st September. Wattle is already in bloom, and some of the tippiest twigs of the tea tree that haven't been chomped by possums are blooming.

Amazingly, sweet pea seeds I planted three weeks ago have germinated in a north-facing bed, still chancey in the winter months so I'm thrilled. My Aldi blue hyacinths smell wonderful, and the tulips will be about 7-10 days behind.

The apple trees arrived from Tasmania. Big twigs, actually, and though I can see that's how it should be, in my mind's eye I'd get fruit. Right now. This means I can let rip in the yard with pumpkins and melons to fill in the gaps.

Most of the weekend has been spent doing paint samples for the fence and gates. They were spray-painted cheaply to sell the house and now need a fix-up. They chose a deep iron-grey, so we have a narrow range for the new colour so as not to have to prime. It has to fit the rest of the house with has grey-green walls and grey-blue trim. Paint is not interesting, though I have strong views on it, I'd rather not have to spend time on it.

I love that Echt has Aldi too ! Maudant we are joining you and currently on Eurotunnel. Am route planning and am going to stop at Chateau Villandry for lunch next weekend.

Hope the party went well Bertha. Castle I am impressed with your Apple tree, mine both such this year. The landscaping sounds an exciting project.

Geoff well done on the Camellia rescue, I have nearly killed one this summer. FP, I love that hydrangea, look forward to seeing some pics in future.

We may pass, SugarPlumTree, as we are on our way home now. Bon voyage!

I too was struck by Aldi's global reach. I love hearing about echt's garden and the seasonal shifts in the antipodes.

How amazing Geoff A camellia in nearly autumn .

I keep meaning to go to Villandry Sugar there are soo many chateaux round here we don't seem to be able to get past Chinon. Tell me if it's worth a visit please. I love Amboise too. The weather is cooling but no rain so ideal for hols. DS and our GD are coming for the week hooray!

got some aliums 'assorted purple shades' and crocus bulbs at the pound shop today. waiting for lidl to start their spring bulbs. my tulips were so lovely in spring, the more the merrier :)

Maud the pink and white hydrangea sounds like 'Vanilla Frais". I'm planning to put some in my north facing border. I saw them at Wisley years ago and have been awaiting an opportunity to plant some ever since!

What a coincidence my neighbours have this plant and I'd been about to ask what it is. The white and pink are such an unusual contrast it looks like two plants.

Twitching to get bulbs but wondering if Sarah Raven though expensive might be better. My pound-land assortment seem to be blind, oh apart from the ones I planted by mistake- those buggers are in flower

Bloms are my favourite for top quality bulbs.

Thank you, Rhubarb, for identifying the hydrangea but, oh dear, you are going to be my downfall. My favourite holiday porn reading was the van Meuwen catalogue and I had Ben heroically resisting the temptation to place an order (they have some very alluring tulip bulbs). Now I see that they stock Vanilla Frais and that is tipping me over the edge ...