"in the midst of winter, I found there was within me, an invincible summer" Potting shed chat continues here

[funnyperson]

So as agreed (by 2 other people!) I have started this thread for spring gardeners follwing on from the previous thread : Welcome one and all. experts and novices alike and draw up your chairs and join in discussion on all things garden related (and even not garden related)

Oh no. Does that mean there's no GW tonight? I've had a trying week and was looking forward to a soothing time with Monty and the crew.

I quite fancy growing kiwis! Do you think I could grow one with no greenhouse!
Hoping for some nice weather to do some planting over the weekend.

I bought kiwi jam from the WI last year- it was made with kiwis locally grown up the outside of a garage wall - I am up in East Yorkshire , so I guess you have a chance...:)

Purple you could probably grow one indoors as a giant house plant, the ex has also left me an avocado plant which is stuck in the back bedroom.
We went to an open gardens in Newnham, Kent, and they had one under a pergola on a patio, it was very sheltered....but it had fruit on!

No, no GW this week. Perhaps some of the presenters are all too busy being famous to actually make programmes any more. . It seems aeons since Carol demonstrated how to make plants for free or tramped about her garden making a new bed because her dd had gone abroad.

I'm feeling a bit deprived because not only have we had snooker interfering but also I foresee there will be coverage of Malvern and Chelsea shows and so not much about ordinary gardening or wonderful mad wrinkly people with a passion for begonias etc.

Warm brick garage walls can be very good for fruit trees. I've seen a nice fig tree grow up one. I think a kiwi could do well.

My current gardening is sowing seeds and watering seedlings and putting them out in the morning and bringing them in at night. Still, some of the garden seems to think warm sun is present: the cherry is flowering!

I thought Monty looked quite pissed off when he said they aren't here for two weeks because of sport and I have seen a petition somewhere. Chris Beardshaw foraging on Beechgrove has been my Saturday substitute.

Managed to walk past the Lidl £5.99 box balls and the £10 Mediterranean plants but am at the kiwi. There's one in the fruit bowl, I'm thinking about trying from seed.

Lovely sunny day here but phone claims it was minus 1 earlier.

I've never watched the Beechgrove programme. I must look for it on iPlayer.

It's sunny here too. I'm still snuggled under the duvet but am getting up to go and prowl round the garden - doesn't take long, after all! - to see what else has come into flower.

Oh and I too have been managing to resist all the garden lovelies at Lidl for the last fortnight!

We have a sunny patio with a hideous concrete wall, if a kiwi plant might do well there it would cover the wall a bit. My raspberry and blueberry plants are doing well there.

I think I'm fairly alone in liking Beechgrove. It's very different to GW and they can be very heavy on pesticides etc. They do try new things though and I think found comfrey did better than commercial feeds in their trials.

There's a bit on sprouting seeds on your window sill this week plus Chris Beardshaw made a 'fungi valley' with old tree stumps in the shady area.

My Cherry survived transplanting last autumn and is flowering and the rhubarb is up.

Sugarplum go This is my first ever post of a photo!

Whoops, try to post two posts at the same time...I was going to say, try planting a few seeds from your kiwi.

I like Beechgrove as well sugar - I like the concentration on techniques. I tend to forget about it, until GW gets bumped though!

I had a delightful lie-in this morning, watching two episodes of Beechgrove. I rather liked it, especially the woman presenter whose name I didn't spot.

We have been to a fete so, naturally, I have come home with some new plants.

Naturally Maud, rude not to ! I think the woman is called Carol? I like her, easy to watch.

My thinking exactly! And the lovely woman on the plant stall seemed apologetic about charging me £1 per plant.

Wish I lived closer , ours generally are at least £2! I'm not supposed to be buying though (ha ha). Must try those kiwi seeds....

Orange tulips are out and look lovely with the purple and pink so that's to be repeated next year.

Right I have kiwi seeds and am trying this method.

Ours are very variable. Today's fete was a new one and I think the woman on the stall was keen to sell, hence the low prices. At the school fete, we ask people to give a donation - whatever they feel they want to pay - and, on the whole, people pay more than I would have asked them for. When dad's friend used to run plant sales, he pitched prices at half or a third of what they would be at the garden centre.

That germination method looks interesting. I suppose it's not unrelated to the overnight soaking that is sometimes recommended for sweet peas. I have officially given up on seed sowing because I'm so useless at it, but I have just sown the freebie cosmos from GW magazine and some sunflowers.

My tulips look lovely too, they are a peachy colour and sort of look iridescent. I also have purple ones and some very deep red. I adore tulips, they are one of my very favourites.
Been nipping out to pull up weeds in between showers today. At least I haven't had to do any watering!

My orange tulips look gorgeous too - S. Raven's 'scented tulip collection' - I can't discern any scent but they are all beautiful. They glow in sunshine - of which we had a fair bit this last weekend. I love tulips too.

And the forecast is looking warmer by the end of the week.

My tulips are just finishing off, there's nothing much else ready in the garden, what do you suggest planting to take the place of the tulips?

Things that are looking good in my garden at the moment are pulmonaria and heuchera, which are growing rapidly and close to flowering.

Some of my tulips have been disappointing this year. I chucked out the ones saved from last year that were spindly and obviously not going to flower, but some new Ballerina haven't amounted to anything. I generally go for bold colours, but Apricot Beauty has been lovely. If you want something very brash, go for Rem's Favourite!

Wow Rem's Favourite is zingy. I have a rogue purple tulip that I swear didn't appear last year & if I planted it in Autumn, it was not as advertised in the mix. But it is lovely and looks great with the Orange tulips plus some euphorbia. I will plant more next year, possibly Rem's.

Purple Ribbons, euphorbias in general are probably the next things to flower, but there will also be late tulips and daffodils too. And my purple potato vine is about to flower and that was out for 2 months last year.

Orange and purple tulips with lime green euphorbias is just the sort of colour combination I like!