"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." This month's discussion in the potting shed.

[MyNightWithMaud]

Grateful thanks to the magnificent Margaret Atwood (via A Mighty Girl) for the quote.

I have just come indoors after a delightful couple of hours' pottering in the garden. It's far warmer than yesterday and everything feels optimistic and vernal again, after yesterday's Arctic blast.

High point: Realising that most of last year's cuttings have taken. Given that I am useless with seeds this, I think, is my propagating future.

Low point: Realising that my newest fairy lights have already failed.

they have decided to bring the picnic to mine and watch me work !

haha. are they the sort to offer useful comments too?

My little scrap of lawn needs some TLC too, but dp is putting in a mowing edge (he is halfway through and will finish in a couple of weeks) so no point doing anything whilst it's being trampled on. The mowing edge looks a bit clinical at the moment but will be great once I've put in the plants at the front of the borders and it's all softened to a cottage gardeny style. Will make mowing so much easier.

Lol to watching you work in the garden.
This happened to me with a flatmate once years ago and quite destroyed my pleasure on the day which was silly really as she was having fun watching me potter about but I found there to be a difference between pottering about in solitude or whilst being ignored, and pottering about whilst being watched and commented on.
It is a bit like doing the washing up with people watching you do it.

Thank you for those links funny. I want two water lilies but I'm waiting until the pond is full so I can measure the final water depth at a couple of points as apparently I need to make sure the ones I choose suit the depth. As to other plants, I think I want them all at the moment! I am trying to be patient as I'll get a better judge of space once it's all finished. The rocks arrived today. Nearly there!

I got the best quality underlay that this site had to offer.

Some photos for you - my fritillaries are up. Even more than last year. They like that spot. Plus, spot the odd one out in the tulips. That's Lidl bulbs for you

I do love a mowing edge, Chopper. I always design them into gardens.

It's a funny thing being watched gardening. A long time ago I had a gardening job in a lovely London garden that was overlooked by offices. I was aware that some people used to stare out of their windows at me; at first it was off putting but after I while I didn't even really notice any more, although occasionally I'd catch someone's eye and they'd smile. Then one day one of them appeared in the garden with a slice of birthday cake - they were sharing it in their office and felt like they should share it with me too because watching me work apparently made them feel like I was part of their team! And they said they appreciated the garden looking nice. It was one of the most thoughtful and lovely things anyone has ever done for me - I was all choked up for a moment!

Oh I do love Snakeshead fritillaries. They were out at Chartwell today, looking gorgeous.

I've just bought some slightly gone-over fritillaries from a shelf of doom. I've never succeeded with them in grass, so these will live in a pot. They are lovely.

Interesting seed collection funny. I like the look of the chaenorrhium. It's a new one on me. The Clianthus I've seen somewhere, though I can't put my finger on where. Kew possibly. Wonderful plant.

That's a lovely story Rhubarb and lovely pictures Bertha. I love Fritillaries too and was pleased to spot a couple this week in the garden. I'm sure I planted more but grateful that a couple have made it.

A few tulips are out but not many yet. I live in hope that they will come out the same time as the forget me nots but am not holding my breath. Decided that really my little veg patch should have some veg in so have just sown a few spring onions, kohl rabi and pak choi after moving the herbs over a bit. Before planting mixed in some compost from the compost bins which was one of those satisfying things to do. Although it was a little sad at the time I am pleased I have given up the allotment. So much easier outside the kitchen door and no gluts to deal with.

bearleigh ha no useful comments, in fact I felt guilty ignoring them so had to keep stopping for tea and chat. I didn't really get going till they'd gone, I've only just come in! Still it was a glorious day, really warm and sunny. I could hear the fog siren all day so no guilt about not taking dc's to the beach either.

Love the cake story rhubarb

The talk of fritillaries has reminded me I have some seeds I must get round to. Apparently you just sow them in a seed tray, put them outside and ignore. I'm not great at ignoring ....

It's the first time I've grown Tulips, do you all salvage the bulbs? Mine were mostly from Aldi - quite a lot are yellow rather than the dark pink they are supposed to be I like them though.

I don't keep tulip bulbs, they never seem to work well in consecutive years. I doubt I'm doing it right though!

I planted around 20 fritillaries three years ago. Last year I counted 80 plants, this year I'm not going to even try to count. They have self seeded like mad! They are in a patch of grass between the shed & front gate which gets pretty much ignored so I've been colonising it with woodland & wild flowers. Couldn't grow fritillaries anywhere else as the DDs or the dog would crush them in an instant.

Those fritillaries are beautiful. I must plant some!

Got some serious weeding done in the cottage borders, pulled out all of the linaria and verbena bonariensis edging the paths, removed huge amounts of wild strawberries from the bottom bed by the roses, discovered the gaps where some lupins have died, noted the crambe cordefolia that has been eaten to bits by slugs again and DH planted the rest of the pots of dogwood in the irregular beds. I must weed the pigscot borders next, the Hilltop Beacon geums are looking fantastically healthy and coming into flower.

I am really pleased with the spring borders, they look very colourful. Glad to see that the cowslips have not disappeared. All the early white tulips are out in the front borders, this is their third year and they are still going strong.

It feels great to take back some control. Spring is here and we are finally ready!

That does sound enchanting, Humph.

May I pick your brain about geums? I have several clumps that were given to me by a chum, but some of the stems look very woody and, frankly, dead (others are equally woody but have lots of new leaves at their tips). What should I do? Cut down the woody stems? Discard them? Plant the plants deeper, as you do with heucheras?

you do have to divide them every year or so I think, try chopping them apart, discarding the woody bit and replanting? Or would that not work?

I've chopped them apart to the extent that I've made several plants, but they're all pretty woody and there would be little or nothing left if I discarded the woody bits. Or maybe that's just how geums get?

I haven't noticed mine getting that woody but I have only had geums for a couple of years. What are they? They seem pretty resilient, I bet they will be fine.

My thalictrum aquilegiifolium (is that how you spell it?) isn't up yet.

I had fritillaries flowering really early on so I thought mine were over but when I went to look again yesterday more had come out! They are lovely plants. I hope mine self seed too as they are at the top of a slope!

You must be doing something right with your tulips humphrey! My front ones which are 'american dream' have nice buds on , but the rest out the back have only foliage and rather sorry looking foliage this year at that. Perhaps they were planted too late.

Forgetmenots, aubretia, primulas, magnolia stellata, violas,scilla are all flowering happily here! The hellebores are still going strong amazingly.

It's lovely to imagine how your gardens are looking in the spring sunshine. This is my second spring with this garden, so after waiting to see what came up last year (mostly Spanish bluebells ) this year I'm digging up the rest of the bluebells and planning what I want for next year. I do have some fritillaries appearing in what will become a border with woodland plants (it's damp and part shade).

Rhubarb your cake story was so lovely!

I can imagine how lovely it must have been to watch someone bringing order to a garden when one was stuck in an office, you deserved some cake Rhubarb.

Yes, lovely memory. Thank you for sharing it

Hello I'm back after our Easter visitors have gone. Lovely to read all about your new spring flowers,ponds etc. .

Which liner are you pond makers using?

My brand new magnolia is in flower a beautiful dark pink (I thought the earth was too calcareous but as I dug the hole I noticed it's fine!) And I've dug in my new wallflowers (my favourite flower) dark red and purple. In France they are called girofle (which means cloves) due to the perfume I suppose.

Also just easing back into this thread after too long away. It was beautiful weather here yesterday (S East) and this morning, but has clouded over now, annoyingly. I did move a few clumps of sisyrinchium, which grows here like weeds, into a bed-in-progress, where they now sit alongside several sedums, a couple of Japanese anemones, a young amelanchier, a similarly young redcurrant that has flourished after I just bunged it in willy-nilly and a few clumps of white muscari that were also very much afterthoughts. It sounds awful but, weirdly, is looking rather pleasing.

Re. lily of the valley, I once bought a couple of 'pips' for a rock-bottom price at a local KwikSave (some years ago now as you can see). They're now so invasive that they're forcing their way up through the bricks of the path, several feet away from where they started. But they're my favourite flower and I don't have the heart to rip them out.

Welcome back Ppeat and halsal.

Sarah Raven sent me an email which handily included Tulip care. I did grow 5 last year that came up blind this year. But this year I must have a 100 mostly in pots and I really want to salvage them. According to Sarah, deadhead, lift them from pots and plant deeply in the garden, this prevents them making off set bulbs. Leave foliage to die back naturally. Worth a try any way. I've also just fed them all.

My lily of the valley planted last year has not appeared yet, unless I've mistaken it for a weed and pulled it!

Thanks Geoff They're talking about Beth Chatto's garden on GQS at the moment.