Awful weather - typical Brits talk

DD265

Things are not looking good for the Jade - there's mould where one of the branches had broken off. I may prune it right back tomorrow, feel like there's nothing to lose at this point. I'm going to look at whether I can turn regular compost (John Innes No3 in this case) into compost suitable for succulents. It's a 28L pot so I think it'd cost about £30 to re-fill it with succulent specific compost. Will investigate the difference as I don't really want to throw £30 at a plant that might not make it.

The front garden is nearly done; all the plants went in last night and the first bulk bag of slate is down. We have some topping up/patching to do with the second bulk bag but are going to have a lot left over. It's looking lovely; next is the 'statement' Acer and pot, and my herb planter requires a Basil which I've not found in garden centres yet.

I found somewhere with a great range of bird feeders today (in person) so I bought three different ones to try. I like that the pigeons and magpies can't get at all the food, but the small birds are struggling with some of it too. One of the peppers I'd put out in the greenhouse looks very unhappy, so I've brought it inside. It's sharing the daylight lamp with the fly trap, but I may have lost this one. The other looks very happy, so I'm not sure what I did wrong. The tomatoes are looking a bit sad on our windowsill and I think they aren't getting enough sunlight. I'm going to move these out into the greenhouse tomorrow; they (and the peppers) are toxic to cats so I'm a bit limited where I can put them. Whilst the cats can't roam in the garden, it's a lot easier having 'safe' plants because I can bring them inside if needs be without worrying too much. The only concern, if I can't stow it away somewhere, is whether the plant survives the cats!

We were at my in-laws farm today, clearing an area of grass. It used to be field but is now above a retaining wall so it's dead space, and hadn't yet been strimmed. We must've pulled a dozen hedging plants out of it - some 3ft tall - probably £100+ worth. They were still potted; I think the previous owners had meant to start and never got into planting them, then they'd blown over and grass had overtaken it all. There was one we couldn't get out of the ground because it had rooted too far through the pot (a 6ft tall, healthy looking hawthorne) and clearly a lot of pots where the plants hadn't made it, but it felt like quite a good find. My mother in law has an area she was thinking of adding a hedge, so these will form the beginnings, if not most, of that.

phoebe1989seb

Stunning warm, wall-to-wall sunshine here for the past couple of days 😄

Have begun planting the white bed, although we only just took delivery of the second batch of oak sleepers so half the length isn't yet complete.

Yesterday I received some plants ordered from Kelway's just two days previously - the notification said to expect delivery to take ten to fourteen days so I was pleasantly surprised! I've also ordered from Claire Austin Hardy Plants for the first time but these will be a bit longer, I think.

Today we visited a local garden centre where we - hopefully - picked up the final few white perennials (Papaver Royal Wedding, Dicentra Spectabilis Alba and Leucanthemum) as well as a few wildflower and runner bean seeds. Just need to track down another standard bay tree for the white bed now!

Tomorrow will be more digging, removing bluebells and day lillies to a new location and hopefully getting more sleepers into position. If all goes according to plan we should have this bed finished next weekend 😉

Then it's on to creating a green wildflower roof outside the front window of the kitchen.....

goldfinches

@quirkydeptless I've an idea that the "romance" of your very pretty azalea lies in the ker-ching sound of the till as far as T&M are concerned but I may just be overly cynical. 
Like 2p I cannot think of what to complement it with but for colour combining I do think Sarah Raven unsurpassed so perhaps you could have a look around her website although I've heard that deliveries from there are not going well so maybe just use it for inspiration.
@DD265 sorry to hear about the jade problems and ouch over the cost of compost. Plenty of basil plants available at supermarkets albeit crammed into unsuitable pots and very tender if you can't find any at the garden centres. Could your pepper have something chewing its roots, might not be your fault at all, you never know.

Apodemus

phoebe1989seb said:

Stunning warm, wall-to-wall sunshine here for the past couple of days 😄

Glad to hear you are getting the warmth, we've had the sunshine but the constant northerly wind has been really cold and we've had frosts every morning for over a week now.  I've tried every sunny corner I can find in the garden, in the hope of finding a spot out of the wind.  That normally works well with our usual prevailing wind from the south west but this wind is swirling between north and north-east and the hedges on that side of the garden are yet to come properly into leaf.  It reminds me of a camping holiday I once had in Provence, when I had decided to travel light and leave all the warm clothes at home, only to get my first experience of the mistral, with ten miserably cold days and nights!

twopenny

I can second using the supermarket basil potted up. Having no success with seed despite a nearby house where it grows all over the place like a weed, i tried the shop stuff with great sucess.
My jade plant lives in the same compost for years with rarely water chucked over it.
Wow to finding free hedging plants when you need them. Love a Hawthorne. The flowers glow in the dark and wildlife loves the bushes.

Farway

twopenny said:

I can second using the supermarket basil potted up. Having no success with seed despite a nearby house where it grows all over the place like a weed, i tried the shop stuff with great success.

I can third using supermarket potted living herbs, and an even better bargain when reduced to clear, who would believe they have a date on them?

I've had Rosemary, Sage & mint for around 30p, all very handy & still going strong in the ground

My recent efforts are minimal compared with what some of you have been doing, sowed more beetroot in a trough, older packets but time enough to resow should they fail to germinate

Very cold wind this morning despite the sun, I've left the hardening off plants in the conservatory with door open for now but may put them out later once sun gets going

pink_poppy

Hi everyone, I’m loving this thread, especially as the ‘Daydream’ one seems to have disappeared.
 I recognise a few names (Davesnave, when are you coming back??)
I’m in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 on the West coast, so it’s generally very wet here but we’re currently having bbq weather 😎 We moved into our house late last year and I’m in the process of trying to tame the garden...
Talking of which, can anyone identify these plants/weeds, please??

We have an established rhubarb that is going mad at the moment, plus a couple of fruit bushes. I’d love to grow other things but that will probably have to wait until next year.
Anyway, I’m going to start reading this thread from the beginning and will pop back later. Thank you in advance for any help and advice you can offer 😊

greenbee

My guesses:

Herb robert
Forget-me-not
Possibly lords & ladies
Lily of the valley (with bits of ground elder)

twopenny

All of the above except 4 which looks like lilly of the valley.
But could be lords and ladies. 
The first should be treasured, dthe second removed asap.
3 looks like wall valerian. Really needs to go. Deep rooted and persistent. It is good for insects but produces seeds by thousands throughout summer.
I too have a new garden. Having got a boring border at back at least I finally have a garden I'm going to need help to make it more than just a fringe and make it interesting.
Hindered by plants being difficult to find and bought en mass by the public. Add the ground is baked hard in constant sun. Very frustrating atm. 

RAS

Possibly Herb Robert
Forget me not
Lords and ladies
Lily of the valley

They are all OK if they are somewhere you want them. All can be persistent and spreading.

Weed what's in the wrong place and enjoy the rest.