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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

999 replies

SugarPlumTree · 29/09/2014 22:32

Potting shed thread for those who enjoy talking about gardens and plants. Plenty of garden chairs and the wood burner lit now there is a chill in the air, please join us !

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MaudantWit · 30/09/2014 23:27

My new clematis - the theme is rather twee but the individual plants are lovely.

Bearleigh · 01/10/2014 00:06

Rhubarb how about asters? My Münch (sp?) has been a solid block of bright colour for months, and the same with a red bergamot (the one of them that didn't get slugged). What about pillars of vivid clematis too?

funnyperson · 01/10/2014 01:59

Those clematis are irresistible! I'm strongly tempted to get them to keep the Countess of Wessex company!

I tried growing blue meconopsis 2 years ago after Monty planted some in his woodland garden. The plant was healthy enough from crocus but died still in its pot about 2 weeks after arrival in the autumn which was disappointing. Perhaps it needs a little more sun and warmth. I kept the pot till the summer just in case but although a little shoot came up in the spring nothing else happened. It was a low growing variety. I did plant it out in the late spring just in case.

Rhubarb: primroses in the spring?

Has anyone planted Autumn garlic and if so, what variety and why?

funnyperson · 01/10/2014 02:08

Anyway here is a seasonal poem by Laurie Lee: Its a little bit last century but still.....Humphrey how is your orchard?

Apples

Behold the apples’ rounded worlds:
juice-green of July rain,
the black polestar of flowers, the rind
mapped with its crimson stain.

The russet, crab and cottage red
burn to the sun’s hot brass,
then drop like sweat from every branch
and bubble in the grass.

They lie as wanton as they fall,
and where they fall and break,
the stallion clamps his crunching jaws,
the starling stabs his beak.

In each plump gourd the cidery bite
of boys’ teeth tears the skin;
the waltzing wasp consumes his share,
the bent worm enters in.

I, with as easy hunger, take
entire my season’s dole;
welcome the ripe, the sweet, the sour,
the hollow and the whole.

SugarPlumTree · 01/10/2014 06:43

That is lovely FP. I planted Autumn garlic last year - Music. It was rubbish and I got hardly anything from it and read someone else saying the same so so recommend not using that variety.

Those clematis look lovely. I second Bearleigh on the Asters. I bought one pot in the spring which I split and now have 4 plants full of flowers, look lovely.

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MaudantWit · 01/10/2014 07:56

Yes, those clematis do look lovely. I don't have any texensis types. That's my excuse, anyway.

The poem is beautiful. I have a few too many apples bubbling in the grass and borders. The garden smells of cider. I must clear them up.

Rhubarb - How about polyanthus Black Lace for edging? It looks very bright and cheery in spring (although mine is starting to flower now).

lalamumto3 · 01/10/2014 08:59

Hello, can I join you?
Just contemplating growing garlic for the first time as well, so would love any tips or hints.

I wondered about dahlias for your new bed if you want something a bit more brash.

Callmegeoff · 01/10/2014 09:03

Lots for me to google, meconopsis is beautiful, the same sort of blue as my Morning Glory which the moment I moaned about it has thrown out 20 or more flowers a day! I read that Eupatoriam Maculatum looks good with Heleanthemum lemon queen. Crocosmia with some dark grasses?

Dahlia -hillcrest royal, used at great Dixter and my favourite Dahlia Thomas A Eddison, is definitely a show stopper. Although I know you don't like Dahlias.

Wallflowers and tulips in pots that can just be shuffled into gaps?

Lovely poem funny I lost most of my apples, something got at them and they rotted from the core out.

bearleigh I have one solitary Aster that I don't remember planting, good to know they can be divided.

Bearleigh · 01/10/2014 09:05

Welcome Lala. My autumn/winter garlic failed two years running so I plant in spring now. I have also found that it needs lots of water, and lots of light. (I am not sure it's worth the anguish actually because it's not cheap to buy in the supermarket, the bulbs to plant are quite expensive, and seems to need more cosseting than you'd think!)

Bearleigh · 01/10/2014 09:07

Woops it's cheap to buy in supermarkets! Hate the way MN doesn't allow editing: such antediluvian software

NotAnotherNewNappy · 01/10/2014 09:10

Hi everyone, just catching up...

I haven't been very inspired to do much in the garden as its still a mess from all the building work. However, yesterday I ordered the blue/black slate slabs to tile the patio at the end (4mx8m) and I'm now very excited. We'll rebuild our shed on one side, behind some tall shrubs and a tamarisk tree, and on the other side make a sunny sitting area to drink wine in the evening.

The garden is maturing nicely, I have lots of foxglove seedlings and the Sarah Raven hot collection dahlias are amazing. The cyclamen i moved from pots to the ground are beginning yo flower and some have even self seeded. They are like little jewels in the mud. I am trying to split my hardy geraniums and have some great penstemon cuttings to fill the borders next year. When the patio is done I reckon I'll go bulb in pots crazy. Which colour tulips against slate?

MaudantWit · 01/10/2014 09:31

Hi, NANN. Good to see you again. Most of my bulb pots will be standing on a slate patio, too. I'm going almost entirely for bold colours (orange, red, purple) with maybe a pot of white, but I reckon slate is a good backdrop for anything.

ppeatfruit · 01/10/2014 10:49

bearleigh I agree with you about a lot of veg. actually ;they take a lot of time and effort and watering. And farmers' markets have all the good veg. you could need. As Bob Flowerdew says plant soft fruit and fruit trees ,they are much easier Grin,

TunipTheUnconquerable · 01/10/2014 10:57

I do love the sight of a neat vegetable garden though, especially in the winter - rows of leeks and cabbages. Beautiful.

I'm hoping my garlic and onions will look like that.

ppeatfruit · 01/10/2014 11:03

Do you manage to eat them all ?Tunip. Grin

ppeatfruit · 01/10/2014 11:05

Sorry Notanother I'd go for a mix of blue and white hyacinth bulbs against your slate patio.

TunipTheUnconquerable · 01/10/2014 11:10

I've never managed it myself Ppeatfruit, I just admire other people's Grin
I've tried cabbages, kale and PSB many times but the slugs always got them all.

There's a lot of very good, traditional gardening where I live, though, and I like looking over other people's fences on the way to school pick-up.

Callmegeoff · 01/10/2014 12:28

Hi nann agree with maudant bold colours for your slate patio, can you post pictures when it's done it sounds lovely. I'd like to fill my deck with pots but am worried the wood will rot.

I read In gardeners world that there are companies that collect yew clippings to make cancer drugs, is it rhubarb that has yew?

tunip sorry for the delay in seeds, I've been a bit too efficient at deadheading!

TunipTheUnconquerable · 01/10/2014 12:34

Could you have pots on your deck if you stand them on pot feet to make sure the air can circulate underneath them?

No worries about the seeds - no rush!

ppeatfruit · 01/10/2014 12:35

Tunip Ooh I thought the lines were in your garden Grin Yes they look nice here too but I just have to think of and see the work involved and I support my local market !!Grin

Rhubarbgarden · 01/10/2014 18:16

I used to grow autumn garlic (pre-dc) and it was one of my favourite crops; always produced loads and was very tasty. I generally agree with Bob Flowerdew on edibles - fruit/perennials being the way forward - but garlic was one thing I thought was worth it. I can't remember the variety I used though, sorry.

Asters are an excellent suggestion, as are primroses/polyanthus. Black Lace (Agadoo do do) looks stunning. Thanks.

Dahlias and putting pots into gaps are too high maintenance - my client is a gardening novice so I need to keep things simple, and there's no greenhouse for overwintering.

I think any tulip would look lovely against a slate backdrop. I'd go for brights though. Orange, red, shocking pink.

Rhubarbgarden · 01/10/2014 18:18

Yew clippings for cancer research - yes I meant to do this but they went a bit 'off' before I got organised. Next year.

Rhubarbgarden · 01/10/2014 18:19

Sorry, welcome Lala!

MaudantWit · 01/10/2014 18:25

I am surprised (in the nicest possible way) that anyone else here is old enough familar enough with the genre of popular music to remember Black Lace and Agadoo do do!

SugarPlumTree · 01/10/2014 18:27

Welcome Lala Smile

I was just outside the local shop when saw my friends who are moving drive by with a trailer as they are moving tomorrow. Went down to help them unload and was delighted to get the job of planting the roses I had given them in memory of her Mum and his Grandad. Fingers crossed they like their new home.

Then one of the previous occupants came by and she was a bit emotional. You could tell she loved the garden. I said to her that it is I good hands as I think friend is more excited about the garden than the house and her DH has to be stopped from sneaking off and cutting the grass as they have moving stuff to do !

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