David's Outbox

Application of theory to practice is the same throughout life, whether it be
related to training and chosen profession, learning to drive and even gardening. i have just begun to realise that we cannot now even go by those books which break down gardening jobs into seasons, or month-by-month. I have learned to gauge the weather, and will try things totally out-of-season, and more often than not, they work. This includes division, propagation and transplanting. I use my senses, rather than the books, and get away with it well over 50% of the time!

Hi, I see you are a nurse, My wife is a staff nurse in geriatrics, and I am a senior Operating Department Practitioner in hospital operating theatres, so we use our garden as a wind-down space for after work. Here in Fife, the miners used to be the prizewinning gardeners, because they loved the outdoors after being confined, like we are, for hours on end. And, in reply to tussie, I have just read an article on seratonin and the effects it may have on you if you get your hands dirty in the garden. Do you know, Monty Don has also written several articles about his depression and how gardening alleviates it? As for the Wizard of Oz, you must remember that it was my son's idea and that, at first, I dismissed it totally. But now, I can see all the relevant messages for us, children and adults alike, in all the oz series of books (I prefer the original stories to the film (s). So, the theme stays until I can depict all our ideas and interpretations. Also, many, many thanx for the plant suggestions for Tin Man (written elsewhere on this site). - Best Wishes - david. ps. a theatre nurse I work with ha just sat her exam in the same RHS course as you, and awaiting her results .

Is this a hemerocallis? I have grown to love these - there are several available in the USA with names rlated to the Wizard of Oz, but at a price (up to 100 dollars each!). Glad you like our planting combinations, I find this the most difficult thing to achieve in reality - david

Aweasome pic!

I love the architetural qualities of Eryngium. Wish you succes in yoiur holticultural pursuit, and hope you get a garden of you own.

What a gorgeous lion (imagine putting him in a skip!) And the plants are so colourful, too! Great name - in the Wizard of Oz film, the Cowardly lion in his song refers to himself as a dandelion. Best wishes, David

What a beautiful plant. We love hostas!

Reading all the news about the awful weather farther south, I feel so guilty, because I have moaned about the lack of heat and sun to bring on the garden. We have had nothing remotely like bad weather in comparison, and I sincerely hope that your daughter and yourself can repair the damage, and move forward.

Hi, I have been careful to put just leaves in a bucket and treat like comfrey or nettles, and will be happy to wait a few weeks. Will let you know, and, also, will get that sa.e. to you this week.

Ah, the Pimms! Another use for comfrey flowers. You can always pick some of the herbs, chop finely, and freeze in ice cube trays with water for later use?

I love garden wildlife photos. I used to have a great 35mm camera for this, but need to get a better digital for this day and age. Thanx 4 the message!

Dear peter, have just read that one and am very pleased for you. It was the difference in taste between bought and home-grown that got my kids eating all fruit and veg they can get their hands on! For our dinner this evening we had courgette souffle (with our own courgettes and onions), with homemade tomato sauce drizzle (using bought tomatoes), with a side salad of lollo rossa, Welsh onion, radish, oregano, chives, red onion, chives, cucumber (all homegrown), with a dressing I had made from vinegar infused with homegrown rosemary. I am still washing this away at midnight with wine (am going to try making my own elderberry this year). And to think, we only started all this grow-your-own last year! I say all this because you have probably got the bug now - once you taste the first home produce, there aint no going back!

I am so interested in this use for rhubarb leaves that I shall investigate also. perhaps your first attempt was a failure due to some other mitigating factor? Will research, practise, and let you know.

Well done! You can still sow some more beans where you are - dwarf french and dwarf broad beans (we eat both straight off the plant without cooking) and probably many more than we could here in Scotland. it was the difference in taste that got us hooked.

Also, many thanx for telling Ajay that his wizard hat plant is an Echium, as I had asked him what it is Thought it would be great in our Wizard of Oz garden.

Thanx, Tussie! Found it and will do as required. I was reading just yesterday Organic gardening Magazine, which is listing crops to sow in july to extend the growing season. Was going to give you the web address but looked at it first, and it does not give the whole article (it wants you to subscribe first). However, I think your blog list covers most things other than salad greens I I have a packet of corn salad still to sow. We did several stir fry stuff this year such as pak choi and mizuna, which we look forward to! Anyway, will get the envelope to you soon, thank you - david.

Hello Tussie, I would love some wild mallow (foxgloves sem to thrive here). Unfortunately, I have never been able to find the private comments tab at all, it does not show up anywhere I have looked. How do I give you my address?

I agree. I did want to do several things for the local school garden, but they were afraid of vandalism (yes, even in villages, it exists. Villages do not have much to offer older children and teenagers. So, it was best to use our own garden and let people come and go. Even our neighbours don't know it exists, because no-one overlooks it.

Wouldn't this be more appropriate nowadays on a Christmas card, rather than snow scenes? Also, for us gardeners it would strike a chord, with Spring soon to follow.

I really like the runner bean wigwam, and the inverted triangle trellis to the left - opposites in the same pic.

I love this one, the colours do it for me. Wish I was nearer to visit all the lovely gardens in your area. Glad you like the kids' Scarecrow - david

Yes, you're right, it is a Salvia, but the variety name was illegible on the label. I got it from a local garden centre reduced to £1, as it was looking worse for wear - but it recovered.

My advice (tongue-in-cheek) is that you stop galavanting and adding to your carbon footprint, and stay at home tending your poor plants. I say this tongue-in-cheek because I have just returned from a 120-mile round trip to the glasgow Passport office to get my son a new passport - all for phot ID to get onboard a flight to London! What with the cost (double normal for the passport, petrol, bridge tolls, not to mention the flights) I feel ashamed, and am making up for it by gardening until it is pitch dark (about 11.30pm here). All the family except me will be going so I am saving some carbon emissions, I hope, LOL. Seriously, tho, it is all part of the learning process, and I need to get a camera like yours!

I do believe they can, joey! I should have done a scientific study on our disposal method, i.e. counting the ones with square mesh pattern that came back! Most of our slugs can be found in the morning slimbing up the house wall at the back door ( I do like to study their colouring), and all of these get scraped onto kitchen paper towel and put in the household refuse wheelie bin, where they have up to a fortnight of gorging on our refuse b4 they are carted away to landfill by the Council refuse lorry, where they may well (and probably do, survive, but not in our garden! Guess what? They NEVER touch our hostas, but haven't worked out why.

Hi, we started off with runner beans last year and ended up with a veggy patch of 23 diifferent types, so i hope you have got the bug. talking of bugs, I used nothing last year except the kids. they are only 4 and 6 now, but last year they loved searching the brassicas for caterpillars, and everwhere else for slugs, which we shamelessly launched into space with tennis racquets over our garden boundaries. i thought of drowning them in water or beer, but didn't even have the heart to do it.

Many thanx 4 that tip, Tussie, I should have thought of it as my Internet Provider is the BBC and so I will have that link to hand somewhere. We always take part in the Spring Birdwatch and I have photos of wildlife in our garden which include toads, butterflies and hedgehogs, but i ned to teach the kids more about bes, hoverflies and wasps, etc., as they either run a mile from them or try to kill them!

Hi, I have a companion planting chart, which states that potatoes and tomatoes do not get on well together, so perhaps they were close together? Her in Scotland, my crops are a full month behind where they were last year. We have just had the first strawberries, blackcurrants and gooseberries. Last year we had harvested the beets, shallots etc by now, but it will be another month yet b4 I can do that. Best crops are the apples, our tree is well-laden. I have had many people here say the same about their apples, so perhaps this is one crop benefiting from the weather we have had.

Now I am turning a shade of emerald green - with envy (ha ha). It seems to me that your home and garden are so much part of that larger environment, and so you reap the rewards. I want to sometime do a nature survey with the kids, beginning in our garden, and extending, so your kind reply has made me remember this and put it on my "to do list".

Many thanx for the beautiful pics. I had been given tickets for 2days to th show at Christmas, but in the end could not get (was not too heartbroken, though, coz i have the TV, Internet, and this site to check it all out). I think all your photos are amazing, what a great camera you must have.

Thanx again, Ajay. I will, however, try to resist writing actual quotes, to be on the saf sid.