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I agree with Fairygirl. Sowing too early is your main problem. Cosmos are quick germinating seed. I haven't sown mine yet. May is plenty early enough, then you do not have to worry about low light or temperatures.

Making a raised bed is the easiest way if you want some greenery. It would still pay off to investigate the ground below the gravel, so that roots won't suffer, but it means a better growing medium, and you don't need planting which will be larger, or encroach too much. It isn't difficult to...

I think if your soil isn't suited, you either have to forget about them, or do the usual method of growing in a container of some kind where you can dictate the growing medium. It would be the same as me trying to grow something that needs quite alkaline soil and really sharp drainage, which...

Unless you have somewhere heated to keep seedlings/small plants when they're pricked out and potted on, it's always a mistake to sow too earlyI'm sure most of us have been there though, and it's very easy to sow too many of everything - just in case...

Bear in mind that some Pieris are also variegated, so you get everything there. I have a fairly new, small one here, and they're certainly popular up here I wasn't sure if it was evergreen you wanted too, or if it didn't matter. Choysias could also be good.I meant to ask though - what was...

I'm no expert on caterpillars, but it could be one of the hawkmoths or something similar. I'm sure someone will give you an exact ID though. NatureSpot is a useful site for getting an ID too, for all sorts of things.

Hi @The Bird Lady - you can really lift them whenever you want, as long as you keep the foliage on them. Just pot them up, or heel them in somewhere if you have a space, and feed a couple of times as they die back. Just remember to label them...