The first rule of potting shed is YOU ALWAYS talk about potting shed. The thread continues.

[echt]

Here goes, and feeling bit cheeky as I didn't post much on the last one.

A fine autumn day here, with much seasonal clearing done. Now I come to think of it, is there ever a non-clearing season? :o

oh, at long last I have had a free hour to potter.
In the greenhouse because of the wind !
I have potted up some echinachea I sowed this spring. They have been a bit slow growing, but I realised that maybe they had been sat in a bit of water - I had the little pots stood in one of my gravel trays ,without drainage holes , and it has been so wet so often. But they are looking okay, so I just have to decide whether they are better overwintering outside to plant up in spring, or put them in the greenhouse overwinter - has anyone grown these from seed?
I am also quite chuffed - I took some cuttings from one of my favourite shrubs Kolkwitzia ( well - DH decided it needed a 'good prune' so I rescued a lot of cut off growth ) and they have done so well - I have just potted up eight with lovely roots on them .
Also potted up a pineapple sage - I was given this, its rather erm interesting thing, smells nice, but I have no idea whether to plant it out in the garden , or keep it in a pot, or if ( or even want ) to use it in cooking. It does smell like pineapple ....
And finally some campanula poscharskyana, which took forever to germinate , and seems incredibly slow growing. I have actually potted it up in clumps , as the leaves are so small :)
It has been such a nice, stress free hour .
Just need a good autumn now

I've just cleared the greenhouse of the summer fruit/veg plants. The smoke bomb goes in tomorrow!
Whilst having a coffee at the garden centre I just had to browse the sad plant bit. Came back with an unnamed, but elegant small grass and a large white daisy.
Also in the full price, a smallish Ginko Bilbao, I'm going to grow it in a pot as it's a small variety. I've always wanted one, but thought they only grew huge!
A good days hunting!

I am very envious of the greenhouses. I used to have one but don't any longer and miss the versatility and warmth.
And I love the "sad plant" section of garden centres (and even Morrisons!) . I like rescuing plants and I feel they reward me by growing well.

Bookbook pineapple sage is ace - it flowers really late with the most gorgeous bright crimson flowers. By late I mean October/November so I don't tend to keep mine year after year as I forget to dig them up and it is a tender plant.

They seem to like deep roots though so it's possible yours won't flower this year but as it's in a pot that means it's easier to keep it snug over winter, and plant it out next year.

I need advice. I have these Achillea grown from seed in March. Do I plant them out now, or keep them in pots until spring? Scared of sluggery.

Cookbook, I tried Echinacea from seed. 1 solitary survivor, and this is all he has managed since being sown in March

He is totally overwintering in the porch so I can keep an eye on him. Slacker plant!

Well, I am doing marginally better MrsBert I have 8 survive from about 12 that germinated - . I know one got eaten by slugs :) . They look at much the same stage . I have just potted them into bigger pots, and `I think I will overwinter them in the greenhouse, along with the pineapple sage which is now starting to get some leaves back, after a bit of a torrid time - thanks SeaRabbit :)

A back-breaking spring clearout this morning. The veggie patch was deep in weed grass, but once clear is evidently full of self-sown rocket. I'll sow warrigal greens and plant chillies.

I've ditched four very overgrown crucifix orchids, snapping off some small side shoots (keiki) to grow on.

Hi, Echt. Apologies for taking so long to respond.

I'm feeling so old and creaky these days that I'm only doing the easy jobs. I've done quite a lot of planting (reckoning that things will fare better over winter in the ground than in their pots) and have just potted on some cornflower seedlings. I got brilliant germination a few weeks ago (unusual for me, I'm not gifted with seeds) but now a snail has demolished half of them. It'll be interesting to see how many make it to the spring!

I haven't been on here for ages (namechanged, was a fruit tree), some lovely pictures

Not much gardening for me next year as extension on hold and I think next year will be much the same potentially. I am going to be involved in a community allotment project though that a lovely friend is starting with some more lovely people so really looking forward to that. And I would like to grow more veg again so am having a think what I could do about that given that the garden will ultimately change a lot.

How is everyone doing ?

Welcome back, Post! Perhaps if we lay on a sumptuous feast of and (with optional ) it'll encourage people to drop in here?

The other thing I've been doing is buying bulbs. I chucked out a lot of tulips last year (I try to recycle them for a year or two but they'd become very feeble) so have about four varieties to plant in a few weeks' time. I've also got narcissus Thalia which I forgot to plant today.

Hi Maud I think Gin might entice them in !!

Bulb buying sounds highly pleasant, might have to do some of that as totally lost track on what I have in the garden. I got given a dog rose and a hazel the other day which was a nice suprise.

Finally had flowers on an agapanthus I was given this year which I'm letting go to seed and might see if I can get some to germinate. Did pop out to pick some apples off the Orange Pippin Tree which has done well this year.

well, how strange -I just came on to post as hadn't done for a while . The thread had dropped off my I'm on list, and what with the faffing of bookmarks and what not....
It has been dank, windy and rather unseasonable weather here in Yorkshire, apart from a very short cold snap last week.
So the amelanchier, the acer drummondii and the hornbeam have all shed their leaves rather quickly this week - the ground is truly littered. Horse chestnut is fine, but there don't seem to be many, if any conkers this year, sadly.
I have bought bulbs too, for my spring pot for the front. I decided to try a hellebore as a central plant instead of a heather or small evergreen. I do love hellebores, so treat myself to this ALICE.
It flowers January to April , so hopefully will tie in with the white, pink and purple bulbs I have chosen - I suddenly realise I may swap to white narcissi now I have thought it through :)

That looks lovely Bookbook , I now want both the hellebore and white narcissi.

Oh I am reminded I bought some fritillary bulbs that need to go in.

Hello chaps. I’ve not done much gardening recently except deadheading as I’m in a knitting phase, but actually things are still flowering and looking messy but good. I do plan to plant my narcissus this weekend though. Both neighbours have cut back their trees, so I have a lot more light to play with, hooray.
My perilla (aka shiso) Has been a great success: the plant is enormous and very healthy looking. It is lovely to eat (tastes like a cross between basil mint and cumin)

Did someone mention gin? Not just now, obviously, it's still a little early in the day, but I may be back later, once it's dark and I have GW to watch on catch-up.

My garden is also messy but still flowering. By the time I get back from work it's either dark already or there is just time to tackle the most obviously urgent tasks. However I seem to have a reasonably free weekend, so am looking forward to putting in a few hours.

I found myself in Wilko yesterday and realised they are getting to the end of their gardening stuff (it's all halloween and christmas nonsense!) so I had a rummage in a big bin of bulbs and came away with an assortment of alliums, narcissi and fritillaria.

There are also various things that I put in this year that have just limped along unhappily and need to be moved. So while things are in flower and I can see what they are, I need to work out what's going where, and ideally not end up digging up the above mentioned bulbs when trying to move things later.

I have also started tackling a bed at the end of the garden that was overshadowed by a straggly old philadelphus. It was right in the middle of the bed so I decided to get rid. I have cut it most of the way down, but does anyone have any tips for dealing with the stump/roots? It's not a huge tree-sized thing, but was pretty well established. I am up for digging it out if that's what is needed, but any time-saving suggestions will be gratefully received.

For the first time ever, I bought Chrysanthemums this year. My garden is very sheltered and in London. Do you think I can leave them in the ground or do I have to over winter them inside. I don't have a greenhouse but I do have a garage.

Pithvier - did you see Gardeners World? On there a woman left all her chrysanths in the ground (in Wiltshire I believe) , so its worth a go.
I have five in pots - four of them gifted to me this year, one from the shelf of doom last year. I will be overwintering them in the greenhouse, in the pots.
Vernicular - I wish I could give tips - but whatever we dig out gets uppity and comes back. Including the Viburnum Tinus last year . We dug, cut, and gave it our all. Two nice sized plants are thumbing their noses at me

Thanks for that Bookbook, I think I will leave them in. They are planted among grasses, so should be well protected. I also put a lot of grit in when I planted them so hopefully they will survive.

Ah, bookbook, you have sort of confirmed my fears there. But 'nice sized plants' might not be the end of the world. Another question though, if I cut the whole thing down to ground level, will the roots die back accordingly, or will it be all set to shoot back up to a ridiculous height as soon as my back is turned?

Pithivier, I have no first-hand experience of chrysanths but I think it may depend on the variety. The woman on GW described all hers dying over winter before she started to collect hardy ones.

Well, thats what my Viburnum Tinus did , Vernicular and though rather against my principles DH treated the roots with stump killer too! Mine was an old, enormous thing which looked really sorry due to a few years of increasingly bad Viburnum beetle attacks . But, I have two reshoots - one is a good 3'-4 ' high and about 1' wide. I would love to think I could keep it, but we totally replanted that area, so I have to see if I can leave it in peace, though I doubt it.

You've reminded me that my large viburnum tinus needs reshaping. I have another in a pot which is looking rather sickly, which surprises me as they're usually robust to the point of unkillable.

I'm watching GW on catch up. Lovely after a trying day.

Pleasant day down here do assembled new raised bed and am having a shot at lasagna garden. Hopefully it wil, work and I can grow veg in the spring, have been missing my allotment a bit recently.

I’m waiting for frost to finish off the Cosmos, it’s over 5ft and still flowering! Also the Begonias need to stop flowering so I can lift them.