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'm very jealous of those of you with veg beds...we are planning a kitchen garden as part of ours but that's next on the list and won't be ready until next year at the earliest...
I am chuffed today, though, as went to the village fete and bought some Verbenas, a Pentstemon and a lovely Hosta - all lovingly propagated by someone in the village and 50p each...bargain!

Oh yes, LostInMusic. Fetes and fairs can be sources of fantastic plant bargains. You don't get the provenance that you do with plants from nurseries - the identification of the plant/variety is sometimes a bit erratic - but at 50p a plant I don't much care!

Oof I have planted out, potted on, potted up and pricked out nearly EVERYTHING today. Weather not brilliant this morning but the garden needs rain. The roses are abundant this year. Don't know whether it's my getting better at pruning or just a good year but I'll assume the former

In that case Hapshawl, I am also getting better at rose pruning! Mine and much better than in previous years too. Today I harvested some turnips that were perfect and very pretty with their magenta shoulders, green leaves and white bodies. I realised the soil in the veg. garden was very dry so I've been watering.

Welcome back Castle I was wondering how your bank was going and I'm so pleased it's worked.

Yay to new bargain plants all round. I got two for the price of one in Homebase today - a pot of Lewisia with both a pink and a white plant in. So pretty, and a new plant for me -not sure I've ever seen Lewisia in the flesh before.

Hope the head's doing better Bertha.

truffle lovely plot

castle lovely to hear from you

sugar I have 6 peony flowers this year and have extravagently picked one, its a like a big pink Pom -Pom in the kitchen. Clashed a bit with the red papaver poppies but they are petals in the wind now, leaving stunning purple seed pods.
campanula persicifolia is now in flower in the front joining the foxgloves looking very cottagey. Orange californian poppy is slap bang in the middle looking very wrong, shame the Cerinthe didn't germinate would have looked good with the orange I think.

I don't have too much left to do I'm at the snoozing on a lounger and enjoying phase. chink

maud forgot to say I have some sort of Philadelphus, lovely scent, and flowers but its massive. We cut it right back when we first moved in much to my neighbours dismay, it's very quickly returned to some 15 foot high!

Eek! I was assuming it was Belle Etoile which, according to the RHS, will only reach 1.5m! Oh well, it'll be near the compost bin so any bits I have to lop off can go straight in.

Maybe I will have 6 peony flowers in a year or too - bit like Mme Carriere, worth the wait. It is a shame about the Cerinthe, sorry about that. 2 seeds finally germinated but the rest failed, very annoying - I naively thought saved seed would do well.

My Philadelphus is fairly civilised and slow growing but that's probably due to where it's planted.

I too appear to have been good at pruning roses this year ! Nice to know that the Aldi ones do come good. My two from last year look like they will flower in the cutting patch do fingers crossed. Well worth £1.89 or whatever they were.

Don't apologise it was kind to send them in the first place, did you have any luck with the Cleomes?

Re peony I had no flowers last year, possibly too wet. It's in a place prone to flooding in the winter. I've just been researching how to move and divide.

My Autumn planted Mme Alfred carrier has no flowers.

I saw Madame Alfred Carriere in the flesh for the first time yesterday. She was lovely. I can understand why she's so popular!

I've also fallen off the thread due to general busy-ness but hoping to be a bit more of a regular visitor now. Hello again all.

I'm feeling guilty at yet again going away and asking my lovely neighbour to water things in the greenhouse for me (boring long story, I'm usually away from home every other week or so and dh is sometimes also away so keeping the garden going is a bit of a nightmare). Neighbour is a star though, and seems undaunted by my 18 grow-bags of tomatoes

Can I ask for advice about my prunus serrula? I love it for the bark, but it's getting a bit big canopy-wise. Where we lived previously, they were planted as street trees and the council chopped them right back each year - pollarded, I suppose you'd say. They seemed to thrive on this drastic treatment so I'm now considering doing it. But when, and is it OK to be pretty ruthless? I don't want to kill it...

Halsall - I am not sure about drastic measures with a prunus serrula! Everything I've read says not to prune if possible, so surprised a council would be knocking them back so much. It would be a shame to kill it! Can you take out a couple of the branches instead, just to let a bit more light in? Or is it really congested? It's one of those you can tackle in summer, isn't it?

Hmm, thanks shove. There was a whole street of them and every year at some point they'd be completely reduced to stumps by the council men! I'm very fond of our (and so are the birds who sit and wait their turn at the seed-feeders) but it's ubdeniably too big now. I'll ponder a cautious and strategic prune, maybe...

UNdeniably. Ugh!

Prunus serrula can be pollarded successfully; there is a lovely avenue of them at Anglesey Abbey and they look wonderfully sculptural in winter. It should be done in late winter/early spring and I would strongly recommend getting in a good tree surgeon to do it.

for those dealing with the challenges of ageing parents.

Morning all! Anyone else suffering in the hands this morning?! I attacked the bramble and nettle fest behind the shed that's going to be my new garden area yesterday. Was quite satisfying although now some of the foliage has gone I realise quite how much bricks and rubble there is. Still, good to have a project, and the soil in that area is amazing! Will try to take some pics so I can see it progressing. But really feeling my hands this morning from all the scratches and stings.

And now of course I have THE ITCH! I am sitting here at the computer working but really I want to be out there shifting bricks...

Wow, I didn't know that Rhubarb. Ignore me, Halsall - you have the expert view there!

I'm googling the Anglesea Abbey trees, and they are stunning in the frost.

re hands: I slathered hand cream on my hands today and especially round the nail beds and scrubbed my nails very clean. I have Nivea next to the trug and wear gardening gloves but still find my hands and nails suffer

Geoff I didn't get a chance to plant the Cleome seeds this year but am planning to do them next year when hopefully no exams and I'll be a bit more organised (I hope !)

I also have gardener's hands. I wear gloves for all jobs apart from the very fiddly things like tying-in, and keep soap and a nail brush by the garden tap, so I can at least get them reasonably clean before I come indoors, but they still require constant scrubbing to look presentable. I use a lot of handcream. My favourite is Clarins Jeunesse des Mains, when I'm feeling posh.

Ooh Rhubarb, thanks. Shove, don't worry, I'd also found various sites that said it couldn't be done, so we've both learned something!

That's my favourite hand cream too, Maud.

I always time my Clarins purchases for when they're giving away freebies and stock up on hand cream then. ::miser::