The new hour-long GW.

[shovetheholly]

What are your thoughts?

I am really loving the new format. I like the way they are focusing not just on huge, uber-wealthy properties but on some small back gardens. I like the mix of stunningly beautiful, expertly-achieved gardens and amateur eccentricity. And I particularly like the focus back on technique, and doing things. It's lovely to see Carol Klein treated by the camera like the expert she is, instead of a gurning idiot pointing out that the top of the plant is called the "leaves" and the bottom is called the "root". I also find myself really warming to Adam Frost.

[gingeroots]

castors ,to repace the pitiful ones on the pot caddy

[shovetheholly]

Hahahaha! Oh ginger that made me laugh! You may be able to wiggle the full pot onto the castors, especially if you have a mate to help out!

I think pea shingle should be OK - it's usually sand where you have to be a bit careful because of salt content, isn't it??

[bookbook]

Oh Ginger . The pots wont be moved - they are at the front of the house to 'prettify' and soften a bay window. I was rather worried about them as when I first started to think about them, I thought they would be in quite deep shade, and north facing ( It is a new build house). Now I have seen it over the last 4 months, there is a lot more light - especially on one side, it gets quite a lot of west sun , luckily. But you have given me an idea on the sea campion. I don't think that will do well in a rich compost by looks, but brought up memories of thrift, and that with some alliums that shove suggested has got me thinking...
and shove - a whole new garden to maybe help with, and get you teeth into. A great way of dreaming over winter - !
I have lots of 'dollies' actually - not very pretty ones, as they were used for moving boxes of books around, but I have to repot my bay next year, and it is going on one. Though pushing the pot is a way to get the pot moving , and the wheels stuck ( voice of experience !)

[gingeroots]

oh thrift - I have a bit of thrift struggling in a bowl outside .Do you think it would like compost of some kind ? I've got it in very gritty soil from the garden ( clay mainly ) .

I have odd plants which I brought from my mums garden when I cleared out her house ,some of them are random purchases she had made so they haven't been chosen with any thought to growing conditions.
Though her nerines seem very happy in my

[shovetheholly]

I love thrift! Reminds me of the Suffolk seaside! It grows on beaches, so full sun, and fiercely drained conditions are good - not too much compost in other words. I have a pack of seeds coming soon -hoping to propagate lots and lots of it for my new (and as yet unbuilt) green roof!

And book's talk of alliums has reminded me that I saw some really wonderful late-season ones at Brodsworth Hall. I have a lot of May/June/July ones, but nothing after that (except chives!!). These look absolutely gorgeous and I think I absolutely must get some:

www.perennials.com/plants/allium-millenium.html

[bookbook]

They look nice shove. It was sparked off by Monty doing that alpine trough a few weeks back. I have a very characterless 60's house, and the gravel of the parking area hits the wall of the house. ( South-ish facing). I had decided that a nice alpine tough would do nicely- I am just looking out for a suitable container. But I might also do a pot or incorporate other sharp draining stuff, so thrift, alliums and chives sound like a mix that might work for me- thrift is evergreen isn't it?

[shovetheholly]

Yes, it is evergreen! A trough sounds like it would be beautiful. Will you get a stone one or will you use one of those ceramic sinks?

It is my birthday today! I can only really post this here as only you guys will understand... but I got a beautiful pruning knife which is far too nice ever to use and this - CHECK IT OUT, BETH CHATTO TOUCHED MY NEW BOOK WITH A PEN!

[bookbook]

ooh - a quick dip in as DGS is here today , but just wanted to say
Many, Many Happy Returns !
That is a gorgeous knife, and ooh to the book - enjoy your day !
will come back later tonight.....

[shovetheholly]

Thanks book! I'm now cutting up the recycling with it to test it out! Tis very sharp.

[Kr1stina]

Congrats on the birthday and the gifts .

And on having a loved one who buys such suitable gifts .

[Sosidges]

Happy Birthday ShovetheHolly. My SiL came to cut a tree last week and I totally lusted after his pruning saw🎂

[Kr1stina]

I have that book too and found it very helpful 😀

Not a signed copy of course ( swoon ) a second hand ex library copy

[MirabelleTree]

Happy Birthday Shove Lovely presents there!

[shovetheholly]

Thank you all! I feel very cared for today. Sometimes birthdays are a bit anxious for me, but a big parcel of plants just arrived from the Secret Gardening Club and my pruning knife is keeping me very happy and occupied!

[gingeroots]

Happy Birthday shove ,A parcel of plants ! Lovely .

[bookbook]

Do you still have all your fingers?
what plants did you get shove. I have had a quick dive into the Secret Gardening Club, and they have mazus reptans for sale. I know you recommended them for shade on your other thread- will they do dry, chalky shade , or do they need a bit more damp do you know?

[shovetheholly]

I just about have my fingers intact still!! It's only a matter of time before I cut myself, though.

I am collecting dry garden plants for my green roof - so I bought alpines! Delosperma, convolvulus cneorum, erigeron, campanula carpatica, veronica prostrata, chaenorhinum, those kinds of things. I'm going to divide and subdivide them over the next year - hoping to have at least four plants out of every one I have bought.

The mazus reptans is lovely, but highly prone to slug attack - I've got mine in a pot. It's strange - a lot of sites say that it does well in very moist ground, almost as a marginal plant, but I've also found it on sites for scree gardening! It's a Himalayan alpine by the looks of things and in my garden it seems happier in a pot in the shade than it was in my heavy soil. So I think it would quite possibly do well in your conditions book!

[Lorelei76]

oh here you are
no one's been on the gardening thread for aaaaaaaaaaages. And I need cheering up!

[shovetheholly]

For you lorelei, to cheer you up!

It's only the start of winter, yet it feels like we're stuck in Narnia already. But it won't be long before we start seeing these little fellas, and then spring is just around the corner.

[Lorelei76]

Thanks Holly. I posted some questions about my indoor hyacinths on the other thread - I think it's too warm in the flat for them to cope. Not sure whether to put them outside now.

The irises in pots on the balcony are showing tiny green shoots...

[bookbook]

Are they the ones in the shallow bowl Lorelei? I'm sorry, I cannot remember if you planted them to flower at Christmas inside or just spring in general outside. If for Christmas they need to be cool for quite a while - anything from 2-4 months dependant on variety/how they have been treated. Then brought out into light and warm, usually IIRC about 3/4 weeks. I would have them outside if they are not for Christmas flowering .
I have just chucked a bit more compost on top of a rather early crocus shoot in a pot outside my back door :)

[Sosidges]

This is my new Acer Kangu Saku, making friends with the existing ones. Waiting patiently for the garden renovation to start. The plants waiting patiently, not me.

The other photo is what it was like before I started to give it all away

[shovetheholly]

Great advice from book!

I have a Kangu-saku acer in my garden. They are really very pretty! I love the pink twigs. It looks very handsome in that pot - is it a Yorkshire Flower Pot?

Your garden was glorious sosidges - and it will be so again, in a new incarnation!

[Lorelei76]

I wanted them to flower at Xmas. They are in the dark. Maybe I'm expecting too much to see any change yet?

[shovetheholly]

I'm trying to remember when hyacinths start to come through - I think you might be a little bit on the early side, but they're not something I regularly grow as DH doesn't like the smell (weird, I know, I love it). I am waiting for my Cedric Morris daffodils to come up, so I feel your impatience right now myself!