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.

Oh my goodness Rhubarb what a shock

Storybrooke, I've got a cutting of a Queen Elizabeth rose which gets the sun till 11am and it does fairly ok. Under planted with alpine strawberries, not on purpose !

I'm not developing an obsession or anything...but, in the David Austin catologue it says that most roses are fine as long as they get 4-5 hours of sun a day. It also gives a list of those roses particularly suited to part shade. The Peter Beales site also gives similar info.

Oh my goodness rhubarb hope you're ok! And more importantly what about the plants?!

Thanks so much everyone I'll have a look. Would never have thought to underplant strawberries how bizzare, but very cool!

Alpine strawberries make good ground cover, even in shade, but I never get any fruit from them - I suspect because mice get there first.

I meant to say, funnyperson, that I no longer have Nuits de Young or, rather, I never had it, because when the rose I bought as NdY flowered it was clearly the wrong rose and so the nursery gave me a refund and I bought something else entirely.

Rhubarb

Is it only me who popped over to FB to see if Rhubarb posted photos of the scorched garden?

Glad all ok though.

It's been an education - I thought the flame was contained within the nozzle thingy at the end of the flame thrower and the weeds were actually being blasted with a jet of very hot air. I may abandon any plans to mulch with straw, though.

Thanks for all the tea, cake and wine! I'm fine though was a little shocked yesterday. I fear the plants are toast, though a sedum looks like it might recover. It won't put me off using Strulch as nothing else is as good but I shall be making sure I mention to clients not to let anyone smoke near it!

At least I did it to my own garden not someone else's.

Lovely photos Bram and Bertha by the way. And my thoughts are with those doing exams. I can remember being annoyed that my favourite time of year was always ruined by being stuck inside revising when I wanted to be outside enjoying the early summer sunshine.

Arf at Bertha checking FB for photos! There shall be no toasted border photos. I'm too

DH came home yesterday with a present - a NEW WATERING CAN! It's one of the Haws 8 litre metal beauties, and I wuvs it. I no longer have to fear that the rosette is going to fall off mid watering and that my plants will suddenly be deluged by a mini-niagara.

watering cans with fine rosettes are a joy.
I also find the hozelock rosette device on the end of my hose provides a lovely fine spray.

Lucky you, Holly! BAs a halfway measure because I baulk at the price of the metal ones - although they are beautifully and will become the antiques of the future - I have a plastic Haws can. It's great except one of the roses does tend to pop off. Most of the plastic cans (I have several because I keep a couple in the front garden) have lost their roses and the replacements from the pound shop are hopeless - they're supposed to fit any can, but they fit none!

While we're talking garden accessories, has anyone got a nice outdoor clock? I've seen several online, but not liked any of them. I thought it might help, ad I tend to lose track of time in the garden, which is mostly a good thing but not always ...

Eek - Rhubarb! Was going to ask if it was your garden or your clients', but I see it was the former, which is a small silver lining at least!

Oh dear rhubarb - on the plus side no person was hurt.

I had a visit yesterday to funny's lovely shady garden - it's gloriously full and generous, and she has the good idea of putting plants where she thinks they might live, in pots, to judge the effect before she plants.

...another way of procrastinating planting, alas! It was lovely to see you!

Going to whisper as feel bad about Bearleigh's DS , DD has finished

Can you imagine how awful it woukd have been to do that to a client's garden !? Doesn't bear thinking about.

First sweet peas are out and hopefully the solitary Peony bud will be soon. Pretty hot here today but can feel weather turning, could do with rain.

My sweet peas seem to have disappeared very oddly

What I thought were some rather strange sweet peas turned out to have a label saying 'borage' so that explained a lot.

I'm pleased there are plants growing and flowering in my shady garden: roses, alliums, geraniums, irises, sweet woodruff, lavender, azaleas, rhodedendron, clematis, hellebores still!, cosmos, astrantia. I think its is because they responded to the spring mulch of leaf mould and manure, and to watering!

Everything is so much later than the sunny gardens though, the peonies still only have pin sized buds!

My garden is looking so parched that I got the hosepipe out tonight.

I too put plants on the beds while still in their pots, partly so that I can see where there are gaps and what still needs a home. Unfortunately, though, I sometimes leave them in their pots for so long that they become unhappy and, in extremis, die.

I've just ordered an Albizia julibrissin 'Summer Chocolate' from Burncoose to go in the torched border. Onwards and upwards.

I've been watering the garden daily for a while. With the outside tap (your suggestion, maud) and the hozelock spray head it is a real pleasure.
The hose itself is messy though.
rhubarb are garden plants ever included in home insurances?

That Albizia looks stunning, Rhubarb. Just what I'd like if I could expand my 'black' and white border and add more substantial things. I had a terrible realisation earlier that the fig tree may be getting too big and creating too much shade there and may have to go. Gulp.

Funnyperson, I regularly think to myself that the outdoor tap was one of the best investments I made in the garden. So much better than having to attach the hose to, or fill cans at, the kitchen tap. Do you have a hose that winds back into a covered reel? I bought one a couple of years ago because the old hose (which I used to leave trailing across the lawn) kept getting chewed by fox cubs and that too has been a real boon.

Thanks for the thought sugar plum - I think DS is now resigned to his fate. At least he only has 4 more. How did they all go now you can look back?

Funny I checked and my autumn rasps have the same(few) buds that yours have, and they aren't in such shade though I couldn't say they're in the sun either.

Hello, just had a lovely catch up with the thread.

Rhubarb, how dramatic! So glad damage was limited.

Agree an outside tap a necessity! Toddler has worked out how to turn on the water butt tap. Constant vigilance is the only answer.

Maud, the lovely plant you gave me is still going strong but the label has faded so I have no idea what it is! We liked it so much we bought two more and that part of the cottage border looks lovely. Will take a photo so you can all see and tell me what it is. I wish I had a better memory for such things.

Planted out the outside tomatoes today. Am really enjoying the garden, the peonies are looking good and lots of roses out. DD seems very keen on the garden and gardening. Lupins are her favourite. The orchard is really the best bit at this time of year though, just right for campfire dinners and pond dipping. DH is very happy with his pond and spent today barrowing rocks down to put around the edges. I have bought him an extendable net for his birthday. The pond now has a fence and a gate with a combination lock so that the toddler can be kept out. We have fenced the geese onto one side so there is no goose poo everywhere we want to go and they have not eaten the buttercups. There are some lovely wildflowers growing around the pond as we put a mix down when it was dug. I am pleased that cow parsley is starting to grow there too.

That all sounds an utter delight, Humph. Well done on making your daughter into a gardener. I signally failed.

you never know though Maud, I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about gardening when I was a teen. DS is not at all bothered by it, we have to force him outside to get some fresh air.