NEW Gardeners !

Ah don't really wish we could still buy roses from continental Europe...

Hi, I don't know how DIY you are or if you know someone who is, personally I'd just use an SDS drill to remove the concrete to the front of the old fence post to make a bit more of a gap to plant if that makes sense?

Thank you for the replies. Most of the plants are in small 9cm pots (Geranium, grasses, Astrantia Roma, Jacob's ladder). The soil was digged over and mixed with compost a couple of years ago. Then I just put bark on it and left it. I will definitely wait a bit with planting, but I would not...

If you buy one of the yew balls, you could place it on the bed (in its pot to give some extra height) and see where another one or hebe would give best affect.Acer griseum is one of my favourites too, unfortunately (luckily for the garden budget) I haven’t really got anywhere to put one. Mmm...

No they definitely don't smell citrusy. Looking at conifers in garden shops it looked like Lleylandii but there are so many varieties that look similar!

Yes to moving the eryngiums, but try to do it ASAP before the tap roots get down deep.I've never seen pelleted BFB but I would think you use it the same way as powder and it'll break down when it gets wet.I think Caradonna is a herbaceous salvia not a shrubby one, so if it's a decent clump...

I did a small patch last year, mostly phacelia and cornflowers with a few poached egg plants, camomile and poppies. The poached egg plants have seeded themselves and I've dug up a few good size plants this year and moved them elsewhere in the garden. This is how it looked in the middle of July....

Lavender likes a sunny spot with well drained soil. I have clay so I dug in compost before planting. I'm in SW France so there is plenty of sun!They will need cutting back to a neat shape after flowering (or in spring if you live in a cold area) but as @AnniD said, don't cut back into old wood.

How very sensible! Not every ones choice but for you it sounds perfect. No rotting leaves, flowers or fruit to clean off the seating. No watering, feeding, pruning etc., to worry about so no guilt if the tree died from lack of care. Perfict!!

We bought a small leaf Ivy last year for cheap in a tiny pot, I think it's purpose was for shoving in a hanging basket. It's growing nicely in a container with a Verbina that we bought at the same time. The Verbina didn't die over Winter, and seems to be doing well.When does one take...

Many thanks @pete I'll get some tomorrow and start giving it a feed

I think the idea is good in general with adding new compost. But first need to understand what's the soil in your new garden. When I moved in I hurried to start planting. Now I would've first added a few m3 of good compost/soil,because I've got heavy clay there. If you have camelias,...

Wow, thank you @flounder, that’s a very comprehensive collection! Have your Phyllostachys varieties in the ground remained well behaved or are you always on the alert to keep them under control?

From my experience, as I said previously, after a few months the purple stains vanish completely. Maybe your paving is different to mine. I hope you manage to find an answer.

I'd think the most important thing is to have a suitably sized pot - ie a pretty big one, or else you'd have to keep taking it out and doing some root pruning, and keeping the top reasonably well trimmed.

If you applied 25-40mm of 'compost' in the Autumn, I think that should be sufficient for a season. Lightly rake to even surface, remove any weeds you can see and plant. Keep an eye open for any weed seedlings that appear and remove/hoe when they are small. You could use the soggy cardboard you...

Thank you so much folks, will bear with it and hopefully it will start to look a bit more healthy. I was concerned m,ainly because one of my neighbours has one (which may be an acer not sure) which is wrapped in the anti frost sheeting and looks a million times better but hopefully this will...

Snap @Macraignil

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind.I have thought about clover lawns, however the downside to that location is that clover and cats doesn't mix. While it doesn't have to explicitly be grass there I'd just want something better for her than mud & rocks sort of thing.Thanks, I'll keep an eye...

Quite a number of years ago I used a self cutting tap, mainly due to access issues, The hole they cut is possibly about 6 mm also the bit they cut out is retained in the original 12 mm pipe.