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Spring is almost here, it’s been an awfully long winter. Growing anything nice this season? I’ve had some brilliant winter lettuce in the cold greenhouse quite unaffected by the freezing conditions, a T and M oriental mix, and very delicious the leaves are too so I highly recommend it.
I bought this Camellia ‘Deep Secret’, a dark red and quite rare, it’s difficult to obtain and it’s now in bud waiting to explode. I’m really looking forward to this.
What are you growing in your garden? I would like to know if you’re interested
We moved house a few weeks ago, Mrgaret, and now have a garden big enough to sustain a couple of sheds, a greenhouse, and a decent-sized vegetable and fruit plot.
The garden is strictly the lovely Mrs Grass’ domain (when it comes to doing anything other than lying in a hammock), and I believe she recently planted some rhubarb, and also has some raspberry cane thingy’s for somewhere. There are also some plum and cherry trees dotted about the place, and there are plans to ‘Go Surbiton’ and grow our own veg.
Being a city-slicker myself, I have no concept as to how such greenly things work, and therefore tend to skirt round the edge of the garden to Shed 1, which now sports a dartboard and an ash-tray. There are plans for a beer-fridge (dearer than I thought they would be), and a bloody halogen heater, because it can’t have crept up much above 1 Celsuis since we moved in.
180!
‘hopper…you’re wife is a very lucky woman….oh how I would love to have all that!!…
a fruit and veg plot..oh my god…lol
like the Good Life, I see a ‘Tom and Barbara’ in the making here…eventuallyyou might not appreciate it so much now but I’m sure by the time your wife has worked her green fingers, in a very few years, you will be only too pleased to show off her work.
I hope you will at least, mow the lawn…..?
I will be very pleased at any time to read what you both are doing with your outdoor space and how it progresses. Some nice fruit trees already in place and a warm cosy shed to view the proceedings….
Mrs Grass may already be a knowledgeable gardener, but in case not, the only advice I can give at this stage, is not to plant her shrubs too close together. It’s a mistake we all make and soon dig them up when they start barging into one another. I think 6 foot is recommended spacing for the larger growers.
so, with this remarkable knowledge so early in your gardening career ‘hopper you can now impress her with your keen interest…might end up being your lucky day
My father-in-law was a landscape architect, Margaret, so Mrs Grass is well versed in all manner of horticultural malarkeys. I will pass on this piece of advice though, and see if starts to build my garden cred.
Every day is my lucky day.
^..I’m pleased to hear it, not that I ever imagined otherwise
With your connections she won’t need any advice from me then. I hope one day I might see your garden in the coveted ‘yellow book’…
I got some raspberry canes today too, given me from a neighbour who has a large allotment, with about 200 canes…he gave me 3.
I’ve planted them and cut them right down which is I think the right thing to do. They grow especially well in Scotland I believe, as they seem to do here in Fenland.fun game is darts….I used to enjoy watching on the t.v. when Jocky Wilson, Eric Bristow and John Lowe were in opposition and I always wanted John to win…he seemed such a kindly sort of gent….maybe not…
Sid Waddell’s commentaries always enthralled me…although I gather he had his detractors….I’m afraid his voice turned a lot of women on I think…no idea what he looked like mind…
welcome to your new home by the way, and of course hope you’ll all be very happy there.
Are you putting out food for the birds UM? I felt really bad the other day because I ran out of seed, but I managed to get some sunflower seeds and peanuts from the village post office..trouble is the squirrel keeps taking everything and burying it in the lawn. I’ve never had birds in the garden before because I always had cats, but now I just have the whippet there are songbirds aplenty and lots of little finches. Can’t grow much because I’m surrounded by sycamore and pine trees; the sycamores are a damned nuisance, just taking all the goodness from the soil and light from the garden, so I tend to keep lots of things in pots and just move them around. I envy people who discover gardening when they are young; I took to it when my marriage broke up and found it the most healing of occupations. My house can be in desperate need of a vacuum, but I’ll go and sweep the patio instead.Much more satisfying.
…much like me then..blow the housework…
I have lots of pots going on too as so much hard landscaping here. No grass in this garden we’ve recently taken over….which I miss as we don’t get the birds feeding so much without the lawn. There is agricultural land around here, much of it, and I do see Fieldfare’s and Redwings a plenty plus Kestrel’s which is fun to see through binoculars.
Yes I put food out but they tend to visit us only in the most hostile conditions when they cannot get much elsewhere it seems. I find those lumps of fat thingy’s the best and I leave on the ground for blackbirds and thrushes….
In my last garden the squirrels took most of the nuts and seeds despite my efforts to deter them, but I rather liked them too so I didn’t mind.Sycamore and Ash trees are the bugbear of so many gardeners…along with cats !. Frankly, they are a complete nuisance. In my last garden, every Spring I had to dig up literally hundreds of Ash seedlings before they take root as they are a devil of a job to get out even when quite small, and they will seed right up against the house walls if they can.
I’m pleased you find gardening therapeutic, and I find having a nice large shed helps, I even keep all those awful wheelie bins in there
and it ‘s a good place of refuge should one have a row with the other half…!… fortunately my husband has little interest in it…well he’s always on Betfair…
…and yes I envy those a little who start out quite young. I was mid 30’s before I got interested in gardening, I mean when you in your 20’s you’ve got so many other things going on haven’t you?
Are you situated in town, or rural?
Rural, but not the most beautiful country ever; Trent Valley surrounded by power stations. Gardens titchy as well, but not sure how people find the time to maintain big gardens. The beauty of it is that I can spend hours or days in the garden and there’s always something to do, or I can ignore it completely. My daughter discovered gardening in her twenties and has the sense to use a cushion so hopefully may not end up with her mums wonky knees in old age. We have buzzards roundabout now; I don’t know what’s pushing them over here, although I suspect it may be the reintroduction of Red Kites to the south. I actually saw one on the ground as I was driving back from Nottingham this morning; Must’ve just made a kill. Quite a sight; what a beauty he was.
fascinating to see nature at work isn’t it, if a little frightening at times. I can’t help but feel sorry for those little things predated upon.
You live in an area I’m not at all familiar with but I hope at least your neighbours are friendly and sociable even if the aesthetics are not so pleasing.
I saw today a mass of winter aconites just coming into flower down the road. They’re little yellow things like buttercups and flowering with the snowdrops. All about 3 weeks late I should think.
I’ve lots of bulbs in pots all popping up so really looking forward to those. I was so busy planting them all up last autumn…Have you any favourite flowers at all? any plants you especially like?
A couple of years ago I had the good fortune to visit Henry Cecil’s garden at Newmarket and he was so enthusiastic in showing us around. I felt he enjoys his gardening as much as anything else.
He was kind enough to allow me to take a photo of himself with my husband and I also photographed a much loved little pine tree he had recently planted, which if I recall he told us he got from Alan Titchmarsh.
Your mention of being surrounded by Pines brought this to mind, but this one is quite rare and unusual, as you might expect with Mr Cecil.
After a little badgering, he did at least divulge the name of his favourite rose, or one of them – it’s difficult to choose I know.I think, after an hour in his company, most women would probably fall in love with him, he certainly knows how to lay on the charm when he wants
going to try leeks this year for the first time, hoping again for a glutton of raspberries as last year was just plain silly, could not pick them fast enough, so might go for some jam making.
Have an urban 50 ft garden (not bad for my part of london) and its overflowing with pots and so on
Favourites?
Lillies probably. I love the way geraniums keep going up until xmas (especially the white ones). Fuchias are good value i always think. But theres loads others
As for birds, the greenfinches and parakeets hog the sunflower feeder, but we have loads of varieties
two new sightings this year already. A spotted woodpecker and a redwing (they were all over the area in the very cold spell)
Parakeets – my goodness I don’t think I’ve ever seen one and I lived in the South East for many years….so I think you’re lucky…
Fuchsias and Geraniums always great garden stalwarts not to be without….chloed..I hope you’re leeks turn out successfully. Can’t beat home grown produce…spring onions is about my limit with outdoor veg
My favourite plant is Euphorbia Mellifera, if anyone’s ever heard of it, or has one.
Is euphorbia the plant that has a sap that burns your skin, or am I mixing it up with something else? We used to get Redwings here years ago at this time of year, but I haven’t seen them for a long time. The first time I saw one I thought it was a thrush that had been injured. We have woodpeckers in the pine trees; green ones, I think. One of them sadly flew into the window and broke it’s neck. I’ve always had a strange image of woodpeckers standing on the ground; as if they should always be in the position they are when pecking at a tree
. They sure make a racket. And I think we have a nightingale as well. Also the blackbirds have patches of white on them. The farmer put a magpie trap in the field a few years ago and I thought it was cruel, but he pointed out to me a year or so later that we had a helluva lot more songbirds in the garden afterwards, and he was right. I was walking in the Peak District years ago and saw hundreds of magpies; the farmer said it was a ‘magpies wedding’…..I was brought up in the centre of Birmingham, so I guess I find a lot of pleasure in the countryside. Don’t see house sparrows at all these days, though, although plenty of hedge sparrows. Used to love it years ago when we had the pony and we’d go to see her at dusk and the foxes would be in the field. Late at night we’d shine the torch into the darkness, and all these pairs of eyes shone back at us. Happy times….
Re, Euphorbia
No, you’re not mixing it up, you’re quite right in that it does have a sap that irritates the skin, can cause some minor blistering. Need to wear gloves.Redwings are part of the thrush family and the smallest of the group so I read on the RSPB site. They are certainly dwarfed by Fieldfare’s, also part of the thrushes.
I think my favourite little birds are Goldfinches and I don’t see them often enough.
I’m going to walk Wicken Fen this summer, it’s a nature reserve near Cambridge, so hope to see something unusual. I shall take the binoculars just in case
Have you ever been?Don’t know the fen country at all, although had a friend that taught in a school in that part of the country and instead of having fire drills they had flood drills instead. A programme that stuck in my mind from when I was a child was Hereward the Wake [quite fancied the guy who played him; Alfred Lynch I think it was], and I am desperate to see Ely Cathedral.Also a book shop called Peakirk Books, where I get second hand books from needs a visit. Strange how little we know of our own country. If and when I can afford to retire and if and when the car sick whippet stops being car sick I shall venture forth eastwards [Toyota accelerator pedal willing]. I could incorporate a pilgrimage to Syd Barrett’s house in Cambridge as well! What an adventure.
yeah, it’s pretty wet around here in the Fens. Drainage ditches everywhere and all full of water at this time of year.
Hereward the Wake rings a bell but no more than that, so cannot help you there.
We’re not far from Ely and we go there sometimes. Not been into the Cathedral, it looks huge, but it’s nice to sit outside on one of the benches and have lunch, like fish and chipsIf you are ever over this way, please do get in touch and hopefully pop in for tea, you and yours would be most welcome. Only the other day we had a visit from a lady from another forum
, and she does laying mostly, some system she has. It was lovely to meet her, we hadn’t met before.
Always so much to talk about when you have a common interestI’ve yet to visit Cambridge, we really ought to but I’m finding the Peterborough shops too much to resist
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