"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.

I just feel sad for you too Geoff ! I do like a good furtle it must be said. Barginous begonias you found there .

Fruit cage frame up but has occurred to me it is going to be a pain to get in when net on. So. Might be very temporary until I get things established .

i've got some freebie begonias coming with an order i placed last week. i really not keen on begonias though so will have to find someone to palm them off on!

I never used to like them, either but used them in a winter pot with Autumn fern, they looked fab untill the frost got them. The fern is still around so I'm going to repeat the scheme. They might look alright in pots amongst the very dark dahlias if and when they flower

I've never been keen on begonias (although I like the ornate leaves on some) but recently I've seen some with finer petals which are really quite nice. In fact, I might get some for the wall pots in the side return, as it's pretty shady there and other plants tend to grow sideways in search of the light.

I was so excited to see hosta shoots that I've just been out hacking them to bits in an attempt to make new plants . Shame there USA sense of inevitability about the fact the slugs will eat them.

Then there was a moment of excitement when I thought one of last year's dahlias had appeared but I suspect it is Aster. I had an empty container in a shady bit by the door to my office. It now contains a hosta shoot, a couple of forget me not seedlings, a little bit of violet, some lily of the valley and the world's tiniest foxglove seedling. Also hacked off a bit of the other geranium Rozanne plant.

The new border the other side of office door is filling up. Golden showers and simply peach roses, Acanthus mollis Rue Ledan, climbing hydrangea, foxglove seedlings, couple of hellebores, a Daphne , hosta bits, lily of the valley, Winter Orchid wallflower, geranium Rozanne , Ajuga burgundy glow, scabious plus 2 surprise bits of divided perennial. Thanks to a big sale at a nursery recently it has cost me £15.50 for the Daphne, Simply Peach rose and 2 hellebores. The climbing hydrangea was a present and the rest have been transplanted (Golden showers is a large climbing rose on its 4th place since we moved here ), divisions of other plants or seeds in the case of the foxgloves. Now I should be sensible and let it do its thing and not be tempted to put more in apart from some bulbs in the autumn, as has more than enough for the space.

I've just been watering the garden, as everything looks so parched. I was very excited to see that a hibiscus that I planted several years ago, which got swamped by other things and I thought was dead, is sprouting new leaves. Several more tulips are or are nearly in flower.

I was trying to dig up some weeds but couldn't get the trowel in it was so dry. It's very exciting when you find things isn't it! I've just found two clematis I thought had died so been mulching and watering them.

I'm still hoping some of my apparently dead clematis (little ones in pots awaiting planting) will show signs of life. After the resurrection of the seemingly dead clematis montana, anything seems possible!

I have killed off two clematis montana sadly. I love them too.

The asparagus was very tasty, we were so pleased to eat it.

I have just been down to shut the poultry up and it was so lovely in the garden. All the cherry trees are fully blossoming, we have several small ones and two really old, large trees in the orchard. They are having a good year, unlike our perry pear which has about two blossoms! It had a good year last year so it is in it's year off now, which means no pears to clear up from the herb beds, thank goodness.

I watered all the box ball pots today. My cosmos seedlings are up, so are my tomatoes, peas and basil. No sign of sweet peas or red orache.

::whispers:: Mine isn't all that nice, Humph, as it's pink and I'm not very keen on pale pink in the garden. If it had been dead I would have been secretly pleased replaced it with a white one.

Home grown asparagus is the best. Mine are going great guns this year and we're having about three asparagus meals a week at the moment. I've got three different types which are supposed to come up at different times but they're all up together this year.

My dahlias in the garden aren't up yet but I've got a couple of new Lidl ones which are doing well in the conservatory.

ahh, I would like the pink one!

Three different kinds Bertha! That sounds amazing. I think we will have a fair bit to eat next year, but still only in the second year.

We're in year three so first year we can pick without 'asparagus guilt'. They came as a set of 12 with 4 each of early, middle & late versions apparently but clearly someone forgot to inform the asparagus of that! My mother has the same set and planted at the same time & hers haven't got going yet. Ours are in a raised bed so I think they warm up quicker.

DD loves asparagus. You are making me think we should make a bed on the allotment.

My clematis Montana elizabeth growing up the ceanothus is dripping with buds!
The clematis Marjorie has a few buds- its first year of flowering, could be very exciting!
The others are thriving, but have few buds as yet. Avalanche in particular doesn't have any and is probably not in a sunny enough place.
They have all responded to being fed with horse manure and leaf mould 2 weeks ago.
The three royal ladies (Diana, Queen mum, Kate) are still alive but I doubt they will produce flowers this year. Countess of Wessex has just about survived the winter but appears to be struggling which is a shame.

Some of the clematis grow upto horticultural wiring against the fencing and then get entangled with the honeysuckle. Some grow up a tree. One grows up a pyramid thingy. Others grow up trellis. I'm not convinced I'm making the best of them. That said its not so long ago that any clematis I planted died! Maybe I should train them through roses.

Sugarplum your border has similar plants to one of my borders but that one of my borders looks a bit messy atm. It would be nice to see a photo of yours to see where you have put your plants in relation to each other.

Humphrey your garden sounds divine

For me, Wada's Primrose and Nelly Moser are usually the first to flower, and they have lots of buds. The alpina and cirrhosa are in a tangly mess at the top of the fence - I can never see whether they've actually flowered and need to sort that out - and Jackmanii is shooting towards the top of the apple tree. Niobe isn't doing much yet.

Blimey it's early for dahlias isn't it?

Well it's fairly good news chez nous ; Millie was scanned yesterday (in an amazing vet. hospital in Nantes) and there are no other metasteses [sp.?)The result of the biopsy will be ready on Mon or Tues. and then she'll have the leg amputated. Poor little thing is staggering about with the effects of yesterday's anaesthetic wearing one of those special collars, so goodness knows how she'll be minus a leg!!! , but she's eating and showing interest.

Maud do you like mauve gardens? because I seem to have got one almost by luck in the front ,the irises are amazing here. The oak is out before the walnut and it was the other way round last year.

Your garden sounds lovely funny Any pix?

Sugar - your bed sounds glorious. I am glad to hear other gardeners are like me - I cannot leave my plants alone, I am always looking for ways to divide/take cuttings from them rather than letting the poor things get established.

Ppeat - last year my garden was all purple, completely by accident. I kept buying blue and pink plants, but everything turned out purple. Good luck to the moggy.

The bloody builder revealed this morning that moving the path wasn't in his original quote do that will be more £££. Why oh why would he think I'd like lovely slate at both ends, bridged by a shitty, lopsided, half sunken concrete path???

I couldn't get out there last night to take a picture of the offending potting bench, will try at the weekend. Next up, AIBU to want to nail some trellis/fishing wire/netting to the fence to train some clematis Montana and jasmine up? DH certainly thinks so...

Oh dear, NANN. You need to tell your DH about the wonders of making use of the vertical space. I have covered all my fences which aren't strictly mine to accommodate clematis, honeysuckle and other climbers.

I love purple and magenta, ppeat. The tent really any colours in the garden I dislike, but I tend not to buy much that is pale pink, as I find it hard to combine with the colours of what I already have. I have, though, just planted some pink candelabra primulas and am
hoping they'll look good in the shadiest border.

maud I'll try to send a pic of my accidentally mauve front garden, the irises are soo happy this year and they're purple ,along the wall, by the road outside too, I'm happy because all I did was throw the unwanted corms there from the overgrown, under the post box, outside the gates, little garden.

No you are NOT being unreasonable NAAN it's not a big deal surely ?

That would be lovely, ppeatfruit.

Fingers crossed for Millie Ppeafruit, very stressful for you all. NAAN I am a nightmare at the moment with the plants and they really aren't established enough to be hacking them, but I can't help myself.

FP most of the plants are tiny at the moment, blink and you'd miss most of them. I'll put a picture up later in the summer when there is hopefully more to see

Here is the offending potting bench. You'll see it is particularly handy for storing all kinds of crap underneath. Be honest, is it horrible?

well the bench could be useful but the crap is horrible

I would like to post pictures but a) have lost mobile with pictures of Humphrey in her willow igloo and my children's graduations and am heartbroken
b) never worked out how to upload pictures anyway

Is Nelly Moser floriferous? i must plant her.

Did I tell you mum's gardener dug the beans out of the veg patch and left in the spanish bluebells, pruned the magnolia which was barely a year old and killed it and has failed to weed any of the beds.