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Gardening

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

When the hounds of spring are on winter's traces…...

999 replies

echt · 12/01/2015 21:04

I realise it's later in the UK, but couldn't wait to start a new thread. If another title had been agreed, just tell me and I'll have this removed.

Other than that, seek out those deckchairs from the shed, check them for spiders and get nattering about the spring's promise.

OP posts:
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funnyperson · 12/01/2015 21:13

Lol. Good on you echt!

Brew Cake
Its windy here. Not spring like. So where is the quote from then?

echt · 12/01/2015 21:29

It's form Swinburne's "Atlanta and Calydon". The last four verses are very lovely about spring.

When the hounds of spring are on winter's traces,
The mother of months in meadow or plain
Fills the shadows and windy places
With lisp of leaves and ripple of rain;
And the brown bright nightingale amorous
Is half assuaged for Itylus,
For the Thracian ships and the foreign faces,
The tongueless vigil, and all the pain.

Come with bows bent and with emptying of quivers.
Maiden most perfect, lady of light,
With a noise of winds and many rivers,
With a clamour of waters, and with might;
Bind on thy sandals, O thou most fleet,
Over the splendour and speed of thy feet;
For the faint east quickens, the wan west shivers,
Round the feet of the day and the feet of the night.

Where shall we find her, how shall we sing to her,
Fold our hands round her knees, and cling?
O that man's heart were as fire and could spring to her,
Fire, or the strength of the streams that spring!
For the stars and the winds are unto her
As raiment, as songs of the harp-player;
For the risen stars and the fallen cling to her,
And the southwest-wind and the west-wind sing.

For winter's rains and ruins are over,
And all the season of snows, and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins.

The full streams feed on flower of rushes,
Ripe grasses trammel a travelling foot,
The faint fresh flame of the young year flushes
From leaf to flower and flower to fruit,
And fruit and leaf are as gold and fire,
And the oat is heard above the lyre,
And the hoofèd heel of a satyr crushes
The chestnut-husk at the chestnut-root.

And Pan by noon and Bacchus by night,
Fleeter of foot than the fleet-foot kid,
Follows with dancing and fills with delight
The Maenad and the Bassarid;
And soft as lips that laugh and hide
The laughing leaves of the trees divide,
And screen from seeing and leave in sight
The god pursuing, the maiden hid.

The ivy falls with the Bacchanal's hair
Over her eyebrows hiding her eyes;
The wild vine slipping down leaves bare
Her bright breast shortening into sighs;
The wild vine slips with the weight of its leaves.
But the berried ivy catches and cleaves
To the limbs that glitter, the feet that scare
The wolf that follows, the fawn that flies.

OP posts:
echt · 12/01/2015 21:34

It's a snatch of the poem I've been aware of since childhood, due to this cartoon from a book of Thurber's work that was on the the very small shelf of books we had.

OP posts:
NotAnotherNewNappy · 12/01/2015 22:06

Found you! ThanksWine

Welcome back Bram.

I am time poor on the gardening front, I work 4 days and my DDS are 6 and 3. In the summer i do have a few big blitzes (then ache for days) but my motto is little and often makes a garden. I also try to do things which will help make it more low maintenance, e.g. I'm addicted to mulch (bark, horse poo, spent compost, grit on containers) and I got a big fence put up to stop the neighbour's brambles from taking over. I am toying with the idea of getting rid of the veg beds, as I find these a chore. The flowers on the other hand, I willingly give my time to.

I loved the GGR tulip show, I am so glad I spent the 2 hrs it took to plant bulbs in containers this year. At the time, I probably felt guilty for not using the time to Hoover or make a home cooked tea, but the tulips will be all I care about come spring.

MaudantWit · 12/01/2015 23:38

I too am reserving a chair by the woodburner, where I shall enjoy snoozing and reading Swinburne tomorrow. I do feel that being on these threads is a very improving experience, as well as great fun.

ppeatfruit · 13/01/2015 09:20

Thanks for the new thread echt A bit of a marathon poem there! Sorry if that made me sound like a lightweight Blush!

I'm off to blighty tomorrow so lot of work in the house before I go, even without adult children living here, I can never get over the amount of work there is to do in it Blush.

Dh works from home and is more like a teenager himself.

Bramshott · 13/01/2015 10:33

Ooh - gardening and poetry - I think I'm going to like it here!

NotAnother - you have just reminded me that I did plant up two tubs of tulip bulbs in the autumn. Hooray!

As someone said just as the other thread was finishing, it's good not to cut back too ruthlessly because of wildlife. But come January it really has to be done doesn't it. Must find time to prune the wisteria and not cut through the TV aerial like I did last time Blush...

MaudantWit · 13/01/2015 10:40

Oops! My worst pruning accident was cutting through my iPod earphone lead!

ppeatfruit · 13/01/2015 11:22

Were you listening to advice on pruning, Take That or Mozart ? Grin Maudant

I never know the right time to prune wisteria and although I planted mine in full sunlight the tree on it's right has grown exponentially which has affected its flowering badly. Sad

Rhubarbgarden · 13/01/2015 13:03

Hello Bramshott.

Wisteria shoots should be pruned to a handspan in August, and then down to two fingers in January. Or so I was taught. This doesn't always correlate terribly well to where the buds are; so I find that it basically just boils down to removing long whippy growth in August so that the plant focusses on its flower buds instead of world domination, and then take each shoot back to one or two buds in January.

I haven't done mine yet. I need to start the epic apple and pear pruning too.

It would help if it stopped raining for more than half an hour so that the garden has chance to become less of a quagmire.

MaudantWit · 13/01/2015 17:16

I don't listen to classical music on the iPod, ppeatfruit, and I haven't yet mastered the art of radio 4 downloads of GQT or anything else, so I would have been listening to bits from my CD collection. There is an outside chance it was Take That, although I prefer Robbie on his own when he's in swing mode. My iPod playlists are heavily skewed towards Frank Sinatra, Billie Holliday and Rod Stewart's various American songbooks.

I'll get my coat.

MaudantWit · 13/01/2015 17:40

::pops back::

My Gold Leaf gloves have just arrived. They are very lovely but only just big enough (although I have short fingers my hands are quite broad). I'm guessing they'll stretch a bit as I wear them, but anyone who is thinking of ordering some and has bigger hands than me may fare better with the supposed men's size.

hyperhops · 13/01/2015 18:55

hello, could I join you all
I am determined this year to give more time to my once beloved garden. (working full time and having 6dc does mean time is in short supply though LOL)
I did do a bit of tidying of leaves etc in the front garden the other day and pranced around very excitedly to see bulbs appearing. I am going to be so glad I spent the time putting them in in the Autumn. (although my carefully planned scheme has gone totally to pot as dc and their friends from round the street all "helped" to plant them so it is anyone's guess what will come up where!)
I didn't get round to putting the ones in the back garden that I had set aside though Sad contemplating sticking them in containers this weekend and hoping for the best , or shall I leave them in the garage till next autumn and hope they're still OK?
I ABSOLUTELY love the spring. They were getting the garden stuff in in wilkos the other day and I had to walk up and down the aisle twice doing a little happy dance!

hyperhops · 13/01/2015 18:56

now...wisteria, that is something on my wishlist for this year...come talk to me about wisteria basics...

SugarPlumTree · 13/01/2015 19:05

I'm a bit chilly so glad the fire is on. Just been trying to get DD tk get to grips with War Poetry. I am blatantly failing.

Welcome Hyperhops Wine

My worst pruning accident was the unfortunate incident of the TV aerial in the honeysuckle.

MaudantWit · 13/01/2015 20:33

Hello from me too, hyperhops.

I think the best option for the bulbs you missed is to plant them now in containers. They'll probably catch up (although I admit the tulips I planted very late last year did not flower well) but if you leave them in the garage for a year they'll probably just shrivel and die.

LightTripper · 13/01/2015 21:34

Hello hyperhops!! 6 DCs Shock Shock Shock Shock You are superwoman! I have 1 and my gardening time is tanking.

I have a tub of tulips my Mum gave me for Christmas, but I'm pretty sure the squirrels have been at them as they've torn the netting that was over the top Sad Angry

On a happier note though the cyclamen I rescued from a non gardening friend are looking gorgeous, and I've got crocuses pushing through and hellebores in bud!

Am trying not to think about the wisteria or quince or anything else that needs pruning!!

MaudantWit · 13/01/2015 21:44

I am hoping the rain stops long enough tomorrow for a quick gardening fix. I plan to cut the tatty old foliage off the hellebores and prune the roses. And I've just remembered that I promised to pot some narcissus for DH, as he was planning to plant them on the allotment and that hasn't happened.

Blackpuddingbertha · 13/01/2015 21:45

Found you!

Hello hyperhops Wine

HaveYouSeenHerLately · 13/01/2015 22:17

Hello everyone!

I'd be interested in the wisteria basics as well Grin

Those of you who sow from seed, what are the things you go back to year after year? My flowerbeds weren't ready last year so I didn't bother but I've started compiling a list for this year.

I thought it would be fun to grow my own summer colour rather than buying in annuals as I did last year.

I have a plastic 4-tier greenhouse, a long south-facing bed and various patio pots. I've been overwintering geraniums, fuchsias and passiflora cuttings Smile

My list of familiar items:
Lavatera mixed annuals (remind me of a wonderful old lady)
Sweet pea (don't have the greatest track record, may not bother!)
Sunflowers (I finally have a sunny flowerbed and fence Grin )
Basil - kitchen windowsill
Lettuce in pots

I'd also like to try:
Delphinium (these look hard Sad )
Black eyed Susan (they make me Smile)
Trailing nasturtium (for patio baskets and containers)
Cosmos (seem popular, will investigate)

Probably unlikely to do much veg this year. I may buy the odd perennial from the garden centre or pinch from relatives Wink
The garden is medium sized but I'll happily donate any extra seedlings to friends and family nearby.

Any tips appreciated!

hyperhops · 14/01/2015 07:46

Thanks for all the welcomes. I will plant up my bulbs in tubs at the weekend and hope for the best!

Callmegeoff · 14/01/2015 09:00

Hello every one

haveyouseen I grew cosmos for the first time last year and they were very easy and looked lovely. I had no luck with nasturtians -aphids got them although they are weirdly still alive! I read that Delphiniums are hard but tried any way and ended up with 12 plants a few of them even flowered in their first year! I grew sunflowers in 10 litre pots which were a big success so I'm growing those again. I also grew Lupins , Hollyhocks, bells of Ireland, Cleomes and morning glory. They all did ok but I want to try new things this year.

I'm fairly new to gardening but from seed I will always now grow my own tomatoes, peppers cucumber, courgette, sunflowers, cosmos and foxgloves.

I started off with a plastic greenhouse (now have a glass one) and the wind buffeted lots of seedlings off the shelves, so make sure it's weighted down.

Some annuals are easy to just sow directly into a raked area- I never do that as I'm rubbish at thinning.

ppeatfruit · 14/01/2015 09:47

Welcome to the newbies! I'd love to chat but am off to your side of the channel today. I DO have my new iPad so i"ll be in contact later in the week. Grin

Bramshott · 14/01/2015 10:37

I am rubbish with wisteria - usually mess up the pruning times and don't get many flowers (quite apart from the TV aerial mishap!). I think you're supposed to cut off whippy growth in late summer (and I try to stop it going higher than the windows on the 1st floor) and then in Jan/Feb cut it back to 2 buds on each shoot. But I think you leave in more if you're still trying to get it to spread rather than keep it under control. Ours is poking out of the gutters at roof height so at some point very soon I am going to have to get out THE BIG LADDER (always a disincentive to doing any job requiring it!)

Pleased to hear its not just me with the cable pruning mishaps!

Just spent half an hour (when I should have been working) cutting back a couple of buddleias and lavateras and a jasmine that's on the fence in an attempt to minimise storm damage. My plastic greenhouse was totalled last year by the wind. Going to try and replace with a glass version this year...

hyperhops · 14/01/2015 16:59

Loving the idea of growing from seed this year...need to invest in a greenhouse I fear! Spent ages today trying to locate the tape measure to measure space down side of house for possible greenhouse...had to wait to get DH to find it on his return as he had hidden it used it last!
too dark now to go and measure though so will do tomorrow...
now off to browse greenhouses!