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Talkback: One for the woad

Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
in Talkback
i thought about coming to see you in the Garden Matters thing but then your lack of Pimms put me off.

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  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Ps you were amazing on the telly though
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    What can I do to make my heavy clay soil
    more gardeningable? I have tried peat,
    sand, more peat and manure and still I
    don`t seem to have made any difference,
    and could you please give me some advice as to what to do about the incessant and heavy east wind I always seem to have, please?!
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I'm relieved that the delicate flowers of woad would be difficult to create from plasticine!
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    FabMonkeyJellyCherry: (interesting nom de web, by the way). Keep on mulching and add some grit for drainage but above all be not downhearted and only plant stuff that likes clay.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    FabMonkeyJellyCherry
    It's taken me fifteen years to get the clay in my garden into something reasonably workable, so don't be discouraged. Even now I sometimes come across a patch I could make bricks from. Just keep throwing any organic matter you can get your hands on at it: I actually find my own compost is the most effective thing.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    At the moment I have many wonderful woad plants in my garden flowering profusely after planting 2 years ago really as an experiment. I bought the seeds in Somerset at an Anglo Saxon peat village which in itself was very interesting and well worth a visit. What do I do with them now apart from take seed as I don't think I'll be dying wool etc.!!!
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Wot no Pimms?

    That Men of Harlech song in full:

    Romans came across the channel
    All dressed up in tin and flannel
    Half a pint of woad per man'll
    Dress us more than these.
    Saxons you can waste your stitches
    Building beds for bugs in britches
    We have woad to clothe us which is
    Not a nest for fleas
    Romans keep your armours.
    Saxons your pyjamas.
    Hairy coats were made for goats,
    Gorillas, yaks, retriever dogs and llamas
    Tramp up Snowdon with your woad on,
    Never mind if you get rained or blowed on
    Never want a button sewed on.
    Go it Ancient B's !!
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    to deal with the dreaded clay, just ask everyone for bags of soil and grit for birthdays and Christmas, it's the best presant that anyone could give you,the other best thing is a days help in the garden for a birthday or Christmas presant.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Talking about plants with great history behind them, I saw a play last night called "The Herbal Bed" which takes place in almost every scene in Shakespeare's son-in-law's garden. The cast of the excellent production had grown the herbs themselves and they were beautiful - i would say at their zenith. They deserved a Chelsea gold medal for such a stage set, and all the keen gardeners in the audience were entranced.
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