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

[echt]

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.

Your purchases sound wonderful fuuny.

Last year I was quite early with the seeds then ran out of room in the greenhouse so I'm waiting for it to warm up a bit before I do any more.

It's a lovely day, and I should be joining you in the tidying and prepping but I am ill. Nothing more than a cold but I can't muster the energy to get out there.

I did watch the allotment challenge final and am going to try Cape gooseberry this year.

funny You must have your own micro climate !! The wind is a bitter easterly one here and I had to break the ice on the water troughs this morning at just on 10a.m. So not proper gardening weather. I'm staying in to do the recyling front of the telly and wood burner!

DH is away and i can do stuff like that that wouldn't enthral him!

It's sunny and mild here, too. After lunch, inspired by funnyperson, I will go out to prune the buddleia (although mine is just a baby and not topiarised like hers).

Lovely & sunny here too today. Time in the garden amounted to digging up parsnips & leeks for Sunday lunch and cleaning out the chickens. I did have a sneaky 5 minutes on my swing though which was rather revitalising!

We're away in half term so I've decided I will turn my mind properly to the garden when I return & start some seeds off in the conservatory. Also need to plan the veg plot planting scheme for this year.

I'm quite put out that I went offline for a few days and missed a debate about H & S. Give the scouts chainsaws I say! Make them learn about risk; we wrap kids up in cotton wool too much these days. (Disclaimer - chainsaws may not actually be appropriate.) Although I picked up a new client this week because they just had a chainsaw related incident which resulted in an amputated leg.

I agree dc's get too cosseted, dd1 was moaning last week that her favourite game called bull dog had been banned from school - too many grazed knees. The children got round it though, by slightly changing the rules and renaming it shark attack! So far the teachers are none the wiser

Are you going anywhere nice bertha ?

I agree about teaching children about appropriate management of risk, although Bertha's tale of a chainsaw-related amputation is rather sobering.

I have just had a lovely couple of hours pottering in the garden and have been slashing and not burning but bagging up for recycling. I have lopped large bits off NDN's clematis armandii which has invaded my wire plant support (the only thing standing since the fence fell down). I am very worried about the (in)stability of the remaining fence, so will have a good hack at the ivy if the weather continues to be mild this week.

I have also given the summer jasmine (officinale) a haircut, which is probably not the best thing as it may not flower as well, but it has outgrown its space and whacks people in the face as they go past, so needs must.

Brilliant gardening day for me today as neither of the DC turned up and mum having disgraced herself by calling the police about her out of battery smoke alarm yesterday, didn't ring at all during the day.

Heaven. I potted up all the plants I bought yesterday, rearranged the pots on the patio, planted the rhubarb crown,(Timperley early) some fritillaries, some species primroses which were lurking in a pot from last year, the azalea luteum, which was also lurking in a pot, some ferns, moved the miscanthus, and tidied up the disaster zone of empty plastic pots/tools/hazel sticks/washing line which should all really be in a potting shed.

After this I worried that I might be suffering from mania, (frequent rests, lunch and cups of tea notwithstanding) so i went to visit my parents and gave them some bean seeds and a rhubarb crown. They have a large veg patch.

My favourite large pot planted up today has a Hellebore Penny's pink, a perennial poppy Patty's Plum and the green Wimbledon Olympic rose with some very dark purple primroses.

My next favourite which I planted up yesterday has a scarlet winter flowering camellia in bloom, with smallish delicate flowers, and at its base, a wonderful ivory/pinkish hellebore from Wisley, a truly magnificent plant which flowers in 360 degrees and has lovely large flowers.

I didn't turn the compost heap and I didn't sow any seeds, but have collected up the seed trays, loo paper rolls and egg boxes all ready for when it is a bit warmer and lighter.

I really like Clematis armandii.

I like clematis armandii too, but when it's at risk of bringing down the fence, I have to wield the secateurs!

That sounds like a very satisfying day's work, funnyperson. I have three big pots that need replanting this year. One I planted with baby agapanthus a few years ago, not realising how long it would take them to fill the pot and put on a good display, so I'll move those into a smaller pot and decide what to put in their place. I'll make my selection from what I have lurking, too.

Yes its lovely putting things together from what you have. For instance I repotted the rhodedendron Yakushimamum (it is 30 years old) and at its base, because the new pot was large, there was room for the nerines which were overwintering in a black plastic pot and they are going to be much happier in their new home and will be more on display.
I don't usually move my pots much so I'm going for plantings which will last more than one season.

My summer jasmine didn't flower at all last year, which I put down to an oak tree branch expanding. Perhaps I could cut off the offending branch on the grounds it might break off in a storm and cause damage. The tree has a preservation order on it.

Yes, I aim for permanent plantings, which is why the agapanthus pot was so underwhelming last summer! In an effort to get things off the patio, I have positioned nearly all of the lurking plants where I want them to be. I was going to put the pyramid bay tree in the herb bed, but now I think I'll put in the big glazed pot, with something nice (but what?) around it.

The thing is, pyramid bay is quite sculptural so underneath must detract from that shape or dark green
What about lily of the valley- small but sweetly scented?

I mean must not detract

We're off skiing Geoff, well, mostly watching for me as still not fully recovered. My consultant said I wasn't to do any half pipes, so I think I'll be alright

I love how children get around bans, you'd think just changing the name wouldn't fool the teachers mind. The DD's school recently banned the children from hanging upside down from a set of bars as a child fell off and broke his collar bone. A child who is not normally in that playground as it's for older years, and who, at the time of the accident was with his parents! Of course, the bars were to blame . Luckily they relaxed the ban just before I got the time to go and camp out in the school office to complain (& offer to review their risk assessments). Normally the school is pretty good, in the recent snow they didn't allow snowball throwing in the playground because of the risk of stones getting in the snow. So, instead they hauled all the kids who wanted to out onto the playing fields and set them off on a huge (& apparently largely uncontrolled) snowball fight. Perfect.

Funny - your gardening achievements really put me to shame. I think I need to borrow you.

I've never been skiing as I dislocated my thumb on the dry ski slope just before the holiday. Ho hum.

I agree the bay will need something low and not competing - I'm thinking about the vinca I bought on my last internet plant-buying splurge.

Gosh funny that sounds like an epic day of gardening. It must have been enormously satisfying.

I finished off the weeding around the Savoy Hotel roses and lavender along the drive, and got them mulched. I need rather more grit though for the lavenders.

Trundling to and fro down to the compost bays made me realise quite what a state the garden is in. There is SO much to do.

blackpudding whole gardening days are very rare in my calender:usually its the odd half hour. There is no point borrowing me for anything energetic as I am fat and wheezy. If it is a question of tea, cake and strategic and friendly discussion on the other hand.....

maud Vinca sounds good

Rhubarb do you think perlite added to the soil in lavender pots would be as good as grit? I bought some perlite for the first time with the lavender in mind, not realising till it was in the car that it is plastic.

::waiting for Rhubarb's assessment of perlite::

I bought some to use to improve drainage when I couldn't get vermiculite, and didn't much like it. It didn't seem to work as well and I dimly recall Toby on the GB Garden Revival saying that it both retains water and improves drainage which I didn't really comprehend but does, in retrospect, seem to be true. Another reason I don't like it is that, when I empty old pots onto the beds, the little bits of perlite are very obvious, whereas vermiculite or grit soon get lost.

Ooh and a question for experienced fig growers. My tree still has lots of little figs (about an inch long) that have clung on from last year. Will they ever ripen or should I knock them off and wait for this year's crop?

Just be a bit careful funny the weather may change again (sorry to sound a bit of a mis.!)

My pot hyacinths (on the terrace) have leaves but the flowers, which have colour are still down in their midst at earth level IFYSWIM. They are the ones I recycled so maybe it doesn't work very well, that'll learn me! Should I feed them?

When I finally got round to reading my RHS magazine last night, it was saying that feeding bulbs when they are in flower is far too late, and they should be fed as soon as shoots emerge. For pots, they were recommending controlled release capsules in the compost (too late for me to do that) and a fortnightly feed with tomato fertiliser (which I'll do today).

Thanks Maud I'll try a drop of leftover tea or coffee and see if that perks them up! (my version of feeding!).

I've never been skiing either, too poor when younger and too afraid of breaking a bone now I'm old! Have a great time bertha

maud from what I remember about figs largish ones are removed in the Autumn smaller ones -pea size should be left for next years crop. So if that's what you have I would leave them.

Didn't know to feed bulbs ::adds to long list of jobs::

I am continuing with the armchair gardening and have purchased more Dahlias from Sarah Raven - Jescot Julie, Bishop of Canterbury and Thomas A Eddison. It's getting warmer this week hopefully I can shake this cold off and get outside.

I should think perlite would be fine to add to lavender pots. It would do exactly the same job as grit. I agree with Maud though, that it makes disposing of spent compost a bit of a quandary.

I have just been to the garden centre for grit. I had a very pleasant trundle round and had a real battle with myself over the Actinidia Kolomikta as they were on 25% off, and one kept falling into my trolley and having to be put back on the shelf. I promised myself I'll buy one the next time I go to the wholesalers; I've got the perfect spot for one on the side of the garage.

The winter aconites were also very tempting in their cheeriness but a bit of a rip off at £3.99 per small pot.