Starved of gardening talk

Yes windy here too. Plus driving rain. My gardening is going to be in front of the laptop or cat h up with Monty don in the USA

These high winds make my thirty feet high stems of eucalyptus sway about gracefully more so than any other trees. They look quite dramatic against the sky

Phew, thankfully the trellis looks intact. It is plastic trellis up from 2 big planters and I put willow screening on the back of the trellis so it looks better. . I was going to take the 6 canes out but I see that the jet stream is going to remain powerful for a few more days. I do like the screening value, having lunch or a cup of tea behind it, it`s the only place in the garden that has a view from my neighbours upstairs windows, r angles to my house and 2 drives away. Outside my kitchen french doors, lovely for a quiet cuppa in private

I do love swaying plants like swishing eucalyptus or bamboo

Do agree about the swaying bamboo. But that and eucalyptus are two things that I am very wary of planting now because they grow so fast.
Have done more clearing on the land and have several rsjs that need to go. Am thinking of ringing a scrap metal merchant or perhaps using them as vast planters.
The thing is I can't find out who owns this land so might be looking in to adverse possession rules.
Have found some bulbs under all the buddlea

I am spending a lot of time just thinking about the garden at the moment. There is a bank about 5’ high at the front of the house which needs supporting and so far, none of the builders have got back to us with a quote. But then, what to plant on the top? Something perennial to trail down the front. Hydrangeas? A small variegated holly? Ground cover?
No point starting the back garden until the tree surgeons and stump grinders have been. We have plans for three or four veg beds, a damson and the rhubarb and gooseberries which came from Leicester. I am going to a garden centre tomorrow though!

nannytopsy , just a small point, but you say 'builders' and not landscapers? Garden landscaping companies would have experience with the terrain you describe, and could build retaining walls against the bank or create a two level terrace perhaps. Then you can plant whatever you want wherever you want! What a lovely project you have before you!

I meant landscapers. At the moment there is a lot of sucking of teeth and shaking of heads! I want two levels but may have to go with one.

Since late summer have done sod all - what a slut !
In my defence we are moving this year so really not prepared to spend money on a well stocked garden that in all probability will be ripped up anyway. That said I am amazed to find , without the usual Autumn clean up, how much has self sown.
My favourite rose - Gertrude Jekyll - which covers an arch with clematis "Wedding Day " in the warmer months is now almost done, think I have cut the final blooms. The damn thing truly hates me however, even with gloves a rhino would find hard to pierce Gertrude finds a piece of pi*s! Will cut it back when feeling up to the challenge !!

I had amateur's luck with Christmas mistletoe squished direct onto the branch of an old apple tree about 20 years ago. Forgot all about it, then it was suddenly conspicuous after about 5 years, now enormous and annoyingly low since the original branch was at my own height.
Snowdrops and hellebore well poised for action here, also large pink buds on an old japonica (that I refuse to call chaenomeles). I make a mistake whenever I try to prune it so often leave it alone, now in quite a tangle. Cut out flowered stems after flowering, is that right?

Lucky you winterwhite. I love mistletoe and hope mine takes . We have several camellias and all have big buds. Dreadful weather here again today so no gardening

Yes, cut back after flowering. If in a real tangle then I would hack back fairly harshly to maintain a good structure realising it will not flower as well next year. Otherwise , cut back old flowering stems, any dead bits, throw a bucket of mulch around and job done.
It really is one of the easiest shrubs - fear not !

nannytopsy what about buying ready made groynes? Metal mesh cages filled with stones? Dig out and straighten the front of the bank to make it vertical and then stack the groynes at the front of the bank. Just a thought.

Phew! I feel tired just reading some of the posts here.?
It’s too windy here to do anything at all outside.Raining now too.Never heard of mizzle, drizzle with some mist?

It's windy here too.

After last night we thought there could be some damage to clear up!

Mizzle is moisture in the air, not nearly as heavy as drizzle lemongrove. But it still keeps gardens too wet to do much in! (And will frizz up your hair in no time at all )

Gaunt47 that is another idea we are toying with but they are a bit industrial for this rural garden. I know we could soften them with plants.
The snowdrops were in flower before New Year here.

They call them gabions.

Oops, I was wrong wasn't I, but glad you knew what I meant! And they're better used in coastal gardens perhaps? So you need a dry stone wall with aubretia, tiny ferns, etc planted in the cracks. Good luck with finding some lads to do the work.

My Garrya this winter

nanytopsey, we had retaining walls behind the last house and ended up with 2 sets of steps. My one bit of advice, from experience, is not to use wood, no matter how well treated. It took 8 years and in spite of preserving every year, the walls started to show signs of rot and the wooden steps started to also rot. I was glad to move and get away from that worry

I absolutely love gabions, they can have bits of soil in small spaces and will support sedums up and down the mesh

Beautiful garrya

er um, retaining walls of any type need footings to make them safe and they need to be carefully constructed to ensure that they are safe

Ooooh yes! We have new shoots on some roses, many spring bulbs are making an appearance ?and I've been picking carrots, parsnips and swedes ?

-13 c here today, so no thoughts of getting into the garden!

I can look at seeds though, and plan for my many potted annuals. I love nemophilia 'penny black' and have planted it many times. The dark little flowers go well with other brighter ones.

I do have issues with leggy seedlings that flop over though. Any recommendations? I tend to do use a small plastic windowsill greenhouse to start seeds.

leggy seedlings CC, too warm and/or too little light. They need slower growth

Terrible unexpected winds here again, even my covered chairs and table are moving and I have had to take some strain off the trellis with rope tied around a huge heavy pot. I had to lift very heavy sodden bags of compost onto the tables and even the leg straps have torn. There will be trees down

Still planting late bulbs here.
I am doing it indoors into troughs with compost.
I'm out of the blustery rain but what a mess I'm making of the kitchen floor!!