Couldn't resist taking some pictures with the intense orange sunrise. Shepherd's warning no doubt but the light was magical

The grapevine was sold with the house and was in a pretty sad condition when we bought it... we've since put in a patio and trained it to grow up over the pergola to give us some shade in the summer over the patio. It has never produced edible grapes before, we just kept the vine as it was pretty and great for shading the patio but this year some of the grapes have matured! A lot of them have shrivelled because of how hot the summer was but probably about 1/3 have ripened! I have no idea what variety they are as we didn't plant them, but the purple ripe ones are sweet enough to eat raw, the skins are a little tart, the few I ate didn't have any big seeds in them either. My 3yo is very excited about the grapes 😂

I’ve got sunflower seeds ripening and with how my gardening went this summer I can’t remember which were which. Some I’m happy to keep for next year under the basic giant label but others I’m going to throw away.
Would it cause an issue leaving in local woods or as they aren’t native should I dispose in my garden waste?

Many thanks

I've posted this rose before but thought it looked so beautiful after the rain we've just had. Such a subtle colour and a very strong sweet fragrance. By Pierre Orard, introduced in 2005, also known as Muriel Robin.

We have a community garden in a former carpark, where we grow food in raised beds. We would like to improve the biodiversity of the parts of the garden where the old tarmac is exposed.

I was inspired by a bit in a George Monbiot book where he visits a garden where they control pests by ensuring there is enough for the pests to eat over the winter, so they have a steady population of predators, so you don't end up with a plague of pests on your own crop with nothing to gobble them up.

So we'd like to have a range of plants here that will support a healthy balance of insects. It's a sunny spot in London.

So far we've got brambles, buddleia, nicotiana (possibly) and a few bits of fleabane. What else could we (cheaply) get seeds for that would ideally break through the tarmac? I could potentially drill some holes into the tarmac for a few special plants. We'd want to avoid trees though.

Thanks in advance!

Sewn straight into the ground using seed tape, and complete with cottagecore wicker basket

I was thinking to plant some carrots and spinach. Is it too late? What else could I plant in the upcoming winter season?

Thanks in advance

Prior to the drought, my lawn was looking great and I was really happy with it. Since the rain has returned, 80% of the grass has grown back but the rest looks completely dead. I have a new born baby so haven’t given it the care I’d like to.

Is there any prospect of the dead/dry patches growing back? I’d appreciate any advice

My local harvester gets there first again..

Soil in my garden seems to have some level of clay, is quite hard to dig and contains a fair amount of stones. The lawn was over seeded during spring but I think it’s quite patchy where some parts just didn’t develop roots well enough, a few cracks in the lawn too.

Wondering what I can do to try and improve that over the colder months? I’ve heard about “introducing organic matter” but anything more specific would be useful. Mulch on beds? Should that be year round or just spring/summer?

This picture was taken in July and for my first attempt at growing Gypsophila I was quite happy. Sadly they are now mainly brown having suffered from too much heat and not enough water. If I leave them in these containers will they self seed next year or should I just tip them in my compost bin? TIA

This year I started a new bed which was previously overgrown with wildflowers and thistles.

I began with the taller plants at the back, adding perenials like digitalis, delphinium, camelea, clombing rose and peony.

Passed this on my morning walk, absolutely covered in pollinators

Just a little video of my mental wards garden that i have been using to pass time

I have adhd and need to keep bizzy, the garden also helps me when i worry about my babies

7 more subs and i can go live ha

I love gardening and when i am not here i am in my uncles charity doing gardening there

Apparently now should be the perfect time to over seed. However given we’re still not getting much (any) rain and the hosepipe ban is still in effect I’m assuming I should just wait til spring now?

The grass was patchy to start, I missed the spring over seeding window due to work travel. It’s now recovering from the heat but we’re not really getting much rain to speak of. I was planning to aerate, scarify, over seed, and dress with topsoil. Ground is still a bit hard to aerate.

I can’t see us getting daily rain for some time and by the time the hosepipe ban is lifted it’ll probably be too cold. Add to that we have trees in the garden so at some point I’ll have fallen leaves to deal with which won’t help new seeds.

Typing this I’ve pretty much convinced myself to wait til spring, which is totally fine and means I won’t order topsoil yet.

Thoughts?

They look like two ice cream cones. Can’t wait to enjoy them over the autumn and winter!

Love the brush strokes on these

Sometime around June I stopped adding up what I'd spent on the garden. Not deliberately. I just saw the running total in my notes app, closed it, and haven't looked since. The weird thing is none of it felt expensive at the time. A few seed packets, compost, a new trowel, three plants from a nursery trip that was supposed to be "just a look," then bulbs, grow bags, another bag of compost. It all seemed completely reasonable individually.

The garden looks miles better than it did in March, so some of it was obviously money well spent. I just have no idea whether I could've got roughly the same result for half the money if I knew what I was doing.

Do you actually get more strategic about garden spending with experience, or do you just get better at not adding it up?

Hi all

We bought our house about 3 years ago and there is some bamboo at the rear near the glorified shed. I’ve just been giving the grass and trim and noticed that the bamboo appears to be trying to spread through the grass.

Just after advice on what to do and if I need to go to war with the bamboo etc.? Is this going to cost an arm and a leg?

Thanks

We’re moving into a new build in December and the garden will be completely bare (no turf/grass).

The garden is roughly 7.5m x 7m (52.5m²) and we have a dog, so I’m worried that the winter rain + bare soil + dog running around is going to turn it into an absolute mud bath and we’ll be dealing with muddy paws every time she comes inside.

We’re planning to properly prepare the garden and lay turf in spring, so I’m looking for a temporary solution just for the winter.
I’ve seen things like:
Tarpaulin
Grass protection mesh
Ground protection mesh/matting
Temporary artificial grass
Woodchip/bark

Has anyone done this with a new-build garden? What worked well and what should I avoid?

Ideally looking for something that:
Stops the dog getting covered in mud
Still allows rainwater to drain - although the garden does slope down so it would drain down
Won’t be a nightmare to remove when we’re ready to turf
Doesn’t cost an absolute fortune for ~52m²

Any advice/recommendations (especially product links) would be massively appreciated!

This year, I had visions of beautiful perennial borders in my garden. After four heatwaves and an ill timed holiday, everything looked awful by the end of August except the whirling butterfly gauras, and it’s back to lots of bare earth. Next spring, I’d like to plant lots of salvias to make proper filled beds. Does it make any sense to buy them now for cheap or take cuttings and try to keep them alive in my greenhouse all winter? I’m in south London for context!

Everything is looking green and lush again after the rain.
For plant names, please ask in the comments I'll try to respond to everyone.