"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)

Thanks for the advice re hyacinth
I will think of book and her folks when I plant!
Some of your descriptions of your gardening tasks sound so lovely. I've only seen Australia in summer but I'm sure Spring is gorgeous.

Today I did the bulb pots for the balcony. Mini daffs, crocuses and irises. Snowdrops were done before. Fingers crossed for a good show. if they are rubbish I will be sad.

I brought the water feature in as I'm out of space but I think the days of sitting out and listening to it are over, even if I put a blanket on. I'm not much of a fan of sitting in the cold, it's been a good summer for sitting out there though.

I have some solar powered leaf lights out there to cheer up the early dark but today they only pulled enough light to be on for 30 mins!

Hope all goes okay with you echt you never know with severe weather warnings, if its going to hit you smack on , or slide by....Ooh an avocado
Lorelei - thank you- it made me smile to remember - my DM had to pretend she didn't know they were in there, hidden behind under the stairs stuff.
My aster Laevis Calliope is just looking magnificent now. I dug it up and split it into about 6 or 7 pieces early in spring. Gave a lot away, dug some in elsewhere in the garden, and popped the biggest bit back in the same spot. It has really enjoyed the refresh ( and probably all the fresh compost and fish , blood and bone it went back into )

Yes, it's rather depressing when the solar lights only manage 30 minutes before petering out, isn't it?

I did one pot of mixed bulbs today. In a magazine recently (perhaps The Garden) there was a suggestion that, rather than the much-vaunted lasagne, it was better to put each type of bulb in a cluster, so I'm trying that. I'll report back.

Maud, you mean in just one section of the pot - so only one bit will be in flower at any one time? Sorry if being dense.

Yes, exactly that - the idea is that the bulbs will look better in clusters than dotted around as they would be in the usual lasagne. So there'll be a little clump on miniature daffs, a clump of tulips and another of irises. Time will tell whether it works!

Ah, if I did it it would be to save space and have sequential flowering in one pot. I take it you are doing this in a pot in a garden? I wouldn't want only one bit of a pot flowering because I have to make more of a small space.

The wind was fierce on Sunday, and frightened the dog, though little tree damage where I was.

In the veggie patch I tackled the bolting rainbow chard and came back with a laundry basket full, and still the un-bolted ones to see to. Anyway, all washed, boiled, chopped and bagged.

Now what to do with the abundance of mooli (don't ask) :o

Today is my birthday, so traditions are upheld: all gifts opened at once at a seemly time that suits giver and recipient. Cards first, pressies after. A meal at a local place, in this case one in our ten years living here we did know existed. This is unsurprising as it has cheap American motel look, like a place of assignation, though it is described as a "hidden gem". We'll see.

Happy birthday echt

Many Happy Returns echt - hope the meal is a joyful eyeopener!

Happy birthday, Echt (especially with Holly's fabulous cake)!

Lorelei - Yes, one bit will be flowering at a time, but as it's a wide, shallow pot this should look better (as the flowers will be together) than if they were randomly dotted about. There will be violas, and possibly something else, as ground cover. Currently, the garden gnome is standing guard on top.

Happy birthday echt
Holly that cake is superb
Maud - sounds good.

Am in office, it's blooming freezing. I want yo go home, sit under my blanket and look at my lovely winter plants!

Happy Birthday echt

That pot idea sounds like it would work maud I wasn't going to bother with the lasagna method this year as the last two years have been disappointing, but I might try that.

I haven't done much gardening of late - we have builders in and they are taking forever to fit a kitchen - bits missing, endless head scratching and

Still I escaped today to rake leaves for leaf mould and plant a few daff bulbs. It's really lovely and sunny I took my jumper off.

Happy Birthday Echt

Not much gardening for me other than chopping down old conifers . Builders due here in December so garden will need attention once all that is done.

Stupid question probably
Why would a cluster pot work better than a lasagne?

Happy birthday echt

We love mooli in my mums house at the moment. I make her something called Mooli ka parantha, and occasionally a Mooli Salad.

Peel and grate the Mooli. Mix in with whole meal flower, a finely chopped green chilli and half a teaspoon of salt and knead to make a dough. Set aside for half an hour or so while making the curry/lentil dish of your choice. When ready, make little balls of the dough about 50p size, roll to a thin round and put on a heavy hot frying pan, turning over when cooked on one side then adding a small amount of vegetable oil in the usual way. It is a kind of flatbread really as an accompaniment to lentils etc but my mum loves it.

I'll certainly try that recipe, funnyperson.

The cake was fab, shovetheholly.

The restaurant was...er...interesting. Perhaps twenty-six places, with very limited menu but all well done, bar the bought-in chips.

Service was arrestingly bold:

Me: Do you have pinot noir by the glass?
Him: No, no-one asks for it. It's weak.
Me: I'll have glass of the cab sav.

The clientele was entirely of the older kind, and at 62 myself, I mean waaaay older, all ate up and out by 8.30. I still found myself envying older couples.

Oh, Echt, a bit of envy is natural. though, at the bold service.

Lorelei - the bowl I'm using is very wide, so (the theory goes) the four tulips I've put in it will look better as a little clump than they would spread across the bowl, where they'd look rather sparse. And the same with the other things. It's an experiment, so I'll report back.

Oh Maud i just realised, you meant the plants will look better ...sorry I think because I'm new to this I think that "plants will do better in etc" means that they will be more likely to grow well.

I have a feeling winter is going to hit harder than usual, I put a big fleece on and ate dinner on the balcony! Ive got so used to using it,, I'll feel like I've lost a room when winter hits. The solar lights are on, it's been more sunny today.

The idea of it being dark at four soon is bizarre, though I do understand why it's better to have the alleged light in the morning. I say alleged because of the number of grey days we get. The last couple of winters weren't that grey or cold in London though so fingers crossed for more of the same.

echt - that made me smile. ( and reminded me of going out and after asking for one thing, was told - no, its not good tonight , have this one instead - which I quite liked in truth )
Lorelei - I have seen you thinking of your pot. I have always done a largeish, wide (18" -20") pot planted up in clumps of bulbs, not lasagne. So I plant in 3's or 5's depending on size of bulbs, and usually have about 3 or 4 clumps of each type of bulb. I then plant up with violas/pansies on top to have some colour through the winter, and sometimes a heather in the middle .

How deep does everyone plant their tulips in pots? Last year I used a shallow pot & my tulips were a little disappointing so I wonder if they weren't deep enough

I just follow the rule I learned years ago - plant the bulb so the soil depth is twice the bulb size - does that make sense?

Book, is that the depth above , below or both?

New Heuchera leaves are so tiny and cute! I'm easily pleased at this point, can you tell

Sarah Raven on the subject of planting tulip bulbs
www.sarahraven.com/articles/planting_tulips.htm#b

depth above Lorelei , and however much depth as possible below within the constrictions of the pot dimensions :)

Thanks book
There's also a wide range of opinion on whether or not container bulbs should be left in a dark spot till the first shoots appear. I'm finding this a bit odd because if planted out, they would have to cope with light...certainly where the bulbs are in mum's garden they will get light.