Gardening: Hints and Help!

We liked Peter Beales, a few years ago now, they had good perennial plants too. D. Austin have v good stock but in the garden centre itself only sell their own bred roses although they do other mail order varieties. The cafe was closed as well so not one of our better days our. 

Our plum tree looks splendid on the Orchard lawn 😀. 

🤞for a crop as good as last year.

Sky has been that colour most of the day, old passing fluffy cloud.

How are you gardeners coupling with peat free compost. I must say I have struggled trying to find a comparable compost. Some when opened have only been fit for the bin. Can anyone recommend a good substitute.

Same here HH, some I have tried haven’t been good. 

And us too HH! We were talking about it with neighbours this morning, we all seem to be struggling. The bags we bought are very lumpy and dry out very quickly. We use a lot so tend to go for the the 3 for 2 offers but have not found a good one yet.

Inside at the moment and can't remember the latest purchase but will update later. 

Likewise HH TDA and brue.

Just opened, a today purchase, from Dobbies. Dry looks a bit like spent mushroom Compost and has a very dry lump of small bark chippings.....

Also been using Aldi, Garden line, much cheaper and peat free. Initial thoughts better but not done a seasons growth yet.

I'm doing a container cloche one side Dobbies the other Aldi. Both mixed with Dobbies including John Innes. Will be interested in the results.

Cloche planter was a fb bargain from in the village. Had to carry the cover home, too big for the car 😂

Put the Dobbies peat free in and went away for a bit, returned to find it looked like blackbird feathers after one had been caught 😢😢.

 oh dear B2 I've just realised what you mean...

Something more cheerful, a scented geranium looking good just now, this is the one with the rose scented leaves.

Some nice ideas😁 our latest is a herb tub. OH bought me a big wooden planter back in January, up to now we had been using it to store and dry out firewood in green house. But I emptied it, lined it, built a brick plinth, and hoping it will do ok under kitchen window. Bought some topsoil to half fill it, will add some compost as well, then will put in a few of our favourite herbs, such as mint, thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, chives. I am going to put some dianthus in as well, as I love the colours and clove scent. We use a lot of herbs

Thinking again about peat free compost, possibly it might be better if it was really chopped or minced a lot smaller . This to make more peatish if you get the guest .

We try and make our own compost, however, I checked one of our tubs yesterday, and found Bindweed in it😡 Totally unusable, can’t risk spreading that around. Our next door neighbours have got it everywhere, and think its pretty, so I fight a stealth battle, it’s the only thing I use chemicals on. Their garden is huge, twice the size of ours, but they have little inclination or time to dedicate to it, so it’s around 60% wilderness. Invasive stuff like ivy, bindweed, nettles, couch grass, some kind of horrible burdock. They are lovely though, but it’s hard work keeping some things at bay.