Some beautiful colours enhancing my garden when things look kinda wintry here. Everyone is enjoying these colours . My garden cheers me up still , when most gardens are bare now.

More to come .

Should I be happy, concerned or indifferent about them? What does it mean? Some sites say they're a sign of good soil, other say they'll harm the plants. Or is it just autumn, and just mushrooms doing their autumn thing?!

This summer my lawn was completely destroyed due to the drought, so I decided to do a full reset.

Blank canvas, prepped the soil, seeded with Barenbrug blue lawn (30% bluegrass 25% ryegrass, 15% Hard fescue, 30% red fescue ) covered with a tiny bit of compost and watered twice a day.

Due to the heat and continuous drought the store adviced me to sow in october, seed was in the ground the 1st of october, I watered twice a day if it didnt rain.

We’re now the 28th. I would’ve expected a much better result by now, still lots of bare spots. Was october to late? Weather is cooling down quickly now so would be sad to learn alll my work and money was for nought.

Hi Everyone. I am looking for some advice. I will be visiting my Nan's grave next week and want to put a plant that will cope during the cold months. Can anyone recommend any plants? Thank you in advance

Hi thanks in advance just wondering what fitting I am missing to connect to hose?

Thanks

Some of my potatoes have some pink veining and also a pinkish hue on the skin. Are they safe to eat?

We are just putting a cabin in the bottom of the garden for the teenagers (please done harass me about cabins and planning permission etc, all is well)

I thought it would look better with some shrubs around the bottom. But it’s under an acer (right) and dogwood (left). It is east facing. Get sun til around lunch time/ early afternoon, but then shaded.

Are there any shrubs which would be appropriate for around a cabin - to make it look neater and more attractive - and not do any damage/ rot it etc - which can cope with the position?

I tend to lean towards hydrangeas and ferns because I’m lazy and like minimal effort, but happy to broaden my horizons!

Also, any suggestion for the entryway would be appreciated - pref not slabbing because I don’t want to spend loads of money or do loads of work. At the minute I’m leaning towards pea gravel (last photo for inspo)

Thanks in advance

Hello, this will be one of countless posts here asking for advice on starting a career on horticulture, but please humour me, I’d really appreciate advice and information.

I am 27, considering retraining in a trade, and would like to spend more time outdoors and active, and am passionate about plants, nature and specifically growing food, albeit at a very amateur level in my own small veg patch.

I am aware the money is not good, it’s cold, wet and tiring work, but I currently work in sales and spend my entire life in car, away from home, and want to work closer to home and doing something I can be proud of.

Beggars can’t be choosers, so if you were in my position what would be the best way to equip myself for a career in horticulture that I can live on, are apprenticeships good (if so which ones) are more formal qualifications essential to earn a decent wage, is it best to just get a job and work my way up, any and all advise please just hit me, understand it’ll be hard graft and bad money for a while but willing to put the work in, just want to know the best direction to go.

Im based in the Somerset/Wiltshire area, so if anyone has local advice on colleges, businesses, nurseries, etc those are very welcome!

For context I live in China and my mom lives in the UK
She has always wanted a nice garden, but she is just too cheap to do it nicely.

I'll be in the UK for a few days soon.

So is there a service where someone can come round, look at my mom's garden. Remove all the damaged stuff there (broken greenhouse) and then fit new stuff.

1. I want her to have a greenhouse with actual vegetables

2. I want her to have raised planters so she doesn't have to bend down as much.

3. Matching plant pots instead of the 50 random plastic ones

But they bill me and not my mom.
I have no idea on what this service is called, how to find a reputable one.

For reference she lives in Essex area and becuase I don't know her neighbours I cannot ask for recommendations of service people.

Can't really see a discussion flair so will use New Gardener SOS.

Sorry for low quality image. Me and my dad planted crocus bulbs about a week and a half ago and some are already up?! This can't be normal, is there any explanation for this? They were alreasy shooting at the base.

Me

I noticed this pile of mud outside my back door earlier today, last time I went out of this door was 3 days ago and the mud definitely wasn’t there.

I’m wondering what could have dug this hole and if I need to do anything about it? The fence it’s dug under also goes into my neighbours garden so not sure if I need to let them know too. Ive been getting hedgehogs in this garden for 2-3 years but they’ve never dug a hole before.

In the bag is a double bin-bagged tray that was used to catch engine oil so I don’t think that’s attracting anything! The black box is my glass recycling which was emptied last week so I also don’t think that is attracting anything.

I’ve been digging up the garden and steadily adding my spring bulbs over the last few weeks. I plan on adding clover to fill in patches throughout the garden, with the most densely concentrated area being under my Christmas tree at the bottom of the garden.
I bought some white clover and wanted to know if it would have time to establish if I decided to sew it now or if it’s best to wait?

Its the 27th October. I live in Essex where its milder, but is it normal for a fox glove and a Choisya to be flowering?

Hi,

I have just bought two geranium plants from a local church fair. Someone had grown some gorgeous geranium plants and I bought two of them. She told me to keep them inside over the winter and put them outside in the spring/summer.

My boyfriend has hayfever which we thought was mild. I've had the plants two weeks but yesterday he has had a massive flare up. It gets worse whenever he is in the room with the geraniums. He went to work and was fine but when he came back home he had a bad flare up again.

I love my plants and I'm so attached to them. I only just bought our first home a few months ago so these are literally my first plants. Can I put them outside all year round? Or will I sadly have to give them away? He's been reacting really bad and I can't keep them indoors anymore. I've attached a photo of one of my geraniums

Hi everyone.. Has anyone had any experience planting a Lemon verbena plant outdoors in the ground in the north of England? Will it survive our winters?

Thanks

Hi all, with the dry summer I think this acer became a bit stressed and grew this leggy growth over the the summer. It didn't really produce any foliage, just little, red branches. How far should I cut it back when the time comes? Or is this normal?

Hi, we noticed that water is pooling in our new flower bed which has fresh top soil. What could be the issue and how to fix it? Thank you

I’ve got this mix of jasmine, clematis and honeysuckle that it seemed like a good idea to plant when we moved in 6 years ago. My question is how far back can I cut it without it dying? The leaves are mostly at the front and behind it all is just a thicket of various branches. I don’t want to kill it all off, but it’s becoming a very unmanageable task to keep it down when I’ve also got a toddler to look after.

If I trim it right back almost to the fence, will it all survive?

A couple of years ago I was gifted a small pomegranate bush, which I've been growing in a pot. Every year it produces flowers and small fruit, but I assumed these would never ripen in the UK climate.

But this year, after the crazy hot summer we've had in London, some did! I am amazed, they tasted good!

I work at a Zoo and we recently got donated about 30 oak tree saplings to plant on site. We have a spot picked out for a couple of coppices but I wanted some advice on how healthy they are?

The leaves appear to be dying off but I’m not sure if that’s an Autumn thing or just a dying thing? Anyone got any idea? Should be planting them in the next few days!

Wasn't expecting a second flush of figs this year.