Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May: Alternative potting shed thread

[funnyperson]

On the grounds that potting sheds should admit those of all cultures here is an alternative potting shed thread. Probably makeshift and not as posh as the other one. Definitely subversive and open to gardeners of all capabilities.

I don't know maud I needed to provide my email to be added is all I can remember. I didn't need to be friends with anyone, although its nice that I now am :)

I added someone once and just had a look. It doesn't look the same and does seem that you have to be Friends wotb them before adding now.

You added me sugar I've just had a look and it says you can invite by email I guess that sends the person a link.

Argh. Thanks for the tips. It's all very baffling. Could you PM me your email, Holly, and I'll have another go? The only person I've added in the past was already a FB friend, so I didn't have to wrestle with any of this!

I remember doing that Geoff but can't see where it says it now - maybe something to do with being on my phone ?

Right. Have sent an invitation via the email route. Let's hope it works!

::Newly appointed techno genius::

Well done Maud

Thank you, SugarPlumTree. Do feel free to come to me for solutions to all your technological problems.

::sets out glossy brochure with extortionate hourly rates for consultancy::

Today's thrills: The brugmansia I lugged home from last year's Hampton Court show, which I thought had perished in the pop-up greenhouse, has tiny new shoots and the bilbergia, which probably ought to have perished outdoors, is about to flower. What larks, Pip.

That's great Maud!

Given the govt's plans to ban legal highs, and the stupidity of their arguments that I heard the other day, we'd better get our brugmansias now, before they wake up to their hallucinagenic qualities.

Hold on a minute, Bearleigh. Have you read the wikipedia entry about the psychoactive effects of brugmansia? Just because it's not illegal, it's not necessarily safe. A chap under the influence amputated his own willy.

::faints::

Omg -joins in faint and makes mental note not to tell Dh or he will buy me one. He's already trying to get me to grow some kind of hallucinogenic Salvia I've declined!

Ooh my word no I hadn't read it all! Crikey.

Crikey sums it up very well!

Arf at Geoff's DH and his attempts at home grown hallucinogens.

Hello! I have finally caught up with the thread. .

Hello Timtam I loved reading about your alley.

Some lovely photos of everyone's gardens.

I actually liked the yellow iris in the blue/purple/pink border. Yellow gives blues real depth. I'd plant more yellow irises so that the offending one wasn't a lone voice.

There were a tonne of other things I was going to comment on but I've already forgotten what they were. Head is woolly as I have a streaming cold and am drugged up (though not on Brugmansia).

When I am not feeling quite so rubbish I will wax lyrical about the wonderful chateau garden where we broke our journey.

Oh - flame throwers - I used to have one years ago but builders stole it while we were renovating. I need to buy another. I spend far too much time weeding my gravel and paving.

Welcome back, Rhubarb.

::scoffs nougat, which only seems to taste nice if genuinely French::

How infuriating about your flamethrower. I braved the spiders this afternoon and tidied out our tool store (aka the former outside loo) and was reminded of how many useful tools we have that I forget to use. We have a couple of fearsome hoes that would be so much better (and more back-friendly) than weeding with a trowel.

Well done with the spiders I would have used the flame thrower on them.

I am guilty of forgetting about hoes too. I have a lovely swoe which I haven't used for years, which is criminal.

I should really go to sleep. But I can't stop thinking about a wonderful gardening job I saw advertised - it's at a National Trust garden near here. I spent all day mulling over how I could make it work, but I can't because of the insurmountable school holiday problem.

Oh, how sad, Rhubarb. The NT would be lucky to get you. Could you have an au pair to get you through the school holidays (although I don't know whether it's the done thing to expect an au pair to cover a full working day)? Might a similar job come up in a few years' time? I guess you have several NT places within striking distance.

The flamethrower is in the cellar, but I could have strimmed the spiders to death. (And it was mortifying to see how many boxes and bottles of various gardening potions I had bought, never used zinc had to throw away in a congealed mess).

rhubarb there is a thing called annualising hours where you get school holidays off but get paid for the whole year because you work extra in term time. A consultant colleague at A Very Famous London Children's Hospital does that (how she wanglednegotiated it I don't know) and teachers regularly do that. Or you can annualise hours and get paid a part time salary for the whole year. I see no reason why you couldn't negotiate a contract which gives you, say, dec, jul and august off -ie a 3/4 time contract with annualised hours. It might be difficult to get easter off as that is busy gardening time.

Basically you apply for and get the job (because you are the best person for the job) Then negotiate the (flexible) hours of your (part time) contract.

That said, your children are still little! Some firms will employ a good person with little children part time on the grounds that as the children grow up the mother will want to increase her hours which can work well. But you have so much to do in your home and garden too!

I realise I'm not the expert on these things and there are HR experts on other threads who will know a lot more.

Just wanted to say the alliums 'everest' are in flower and looking great with the cosmos/hostas/white roses/astrantias/white french lavender/sweet woodruff/geraniums himalayense in the white and green east facing border. The blackbirds peck about the place looking happy.

The front garden is completely overrun with pink Valerian, said to be good as a sedative, pain reliever and to attract rats aaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh. Quick get me a flame thrower.

I wondered about doing something like that, funny, but ds does such short hours at preschool (and will do for another year) that I couldn't do sufficient term time hours to cover the holidays. And you are right that yes, there is so much to do here in my own garden it really would go completely to seed if I lost any more of my own gardening time. It was just a nice little fantasy I suppose.

Maud is also right - something else may come up in the future when it will be easier.