Does anyone know anything about gardening?

How much did they cost and did you have any concerns about what the car could take?

EBay, everything you could ever desire will eventually pop up, even standing stones.

@hugo7 They were £40 ish for the lot, not too daft in the grand scheme but it wasn’t easy getting them back out the car on my own. I reasoned that they probably weigh the same as a five decent adults which must be an acceptable payload for a dad wagon but I did crawl home in the slow lane. As I no longer have a van it might be time for a tow bar and trailer.

Brilliant, that border will pop.

When looking for garden big upright rocks I googled torrs, eventually got them from a local aggregate and landscaping place. Had to have them delivered lol.

Their pic. http://www.dalston-aggregates.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Monolith-3.jpg

Thank you!

Maaaaate, total rock porn.

While we're on heavy things, a couple of years back a client informed me that 'I'm having a couple of little pets delivered, can you build some plinths and pop them on?'

Then this arrived.

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Tasteful. Did you use the hiab to plonk them straight on the plinths or is there a trick to moving them on the ground that doesn’t involve a forklift?

@Colin_the_Bald finally sealed the black limestone (one coat) with Lithofin MN StainStop Plus - from Extensive
https://www.tilingsuppliesdirect.co.uk/product/lithofin-stain-stop-plus

Here we are in July 2023. Reckon I'll post an update in 2m, then again in 2yrs.

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I want to get a rose for my wife as the garden is apparently "all fruit and veg" (a fair appraisal). Don't know nuthin' 'bout roses. What's good? The more flouncey the better. Options on the more non-golf-club end of the spectrum would be appreciated.

Just get any David Austin. We've got a Gertrude Jekyl, Roald Dahl and Pilgrim all going great guns.

Please do! Looking great, but let's see how long it lasts...

@inchpincher, that rather depends on your taste. The damned things turned up on the same day as I was asked to build the plinths. A large telehandler and driver were involved in siting them, at 1.7 tons per lion and 1.5 tons per base it wasn't fun. The project was unfortunately never finished, the eccentric millionaire died before we got much further and his vile children sold everything off.

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Definitely not a piece of cake.
Our first bought one died after two years, first from cutting also didn't make it.
We now have one going strong that came from a cutting of a fig thats very happy on a balcony. The one we took home from France also didn't survive.
We use loads of sand in the mix and have good drainage, I think that helps. And there must be figs that are happier in pots than others I guess.

I'd have a think about the size/location/soil.

As there are lots and lots of options, I have some David Austin's and they are great, if you need pollinators not all roses attract those, so you need to check. More "primitive" flowers do, but the really complicated flower types don't.

We love fancy flowers, bees and so on don't.

Another vote for David Austin. Ours is a Malvern Hills rose.

I've never called them. But I bet they're the sort of people you can call and have a chat with and get good advice.

Gotta ask, did the toothpaste trick work on your tiles?!

Fair enough, looks like he was going for a Venetian vibe.

I've got a couple of David Austins (Bring me sunshine - big peachy blooms, smells like parma violets). I've also got Rhapsody in Blue which is an unusual purple colour, single variety, not very flouncey but the bees like it.

They've just bought a new one out today which is very flouncey looking. https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/products/penelope-lively

I'm going to RHS Hampton Court on Wednesday, I'm after a climbing rose for an arch so I'll be over at the David Austin stand sniffing them all.

They also guarantee them for 5 years - one we gave as a gift died and they replaced it without fuss.

With some. But it wasn't 'as if by magic', and given I've been working through this for what must be over a month I settled with a 'fuck it / good enough' attitude.

Not advocating this approach, but I was suprised how the sealant has covered and repaired basically all of the stains. To the point that idk if I needed to spend all of last week spending every window of time cleaning it.

The one really annoying bit tho is there is a prominent crack that's had some water penetrate and make whitish.

Anyway... Really looking forward to getting our table and some pots on mid week, as well as choosing some gravel to dress the edge with the brick shed.

Have decided not to do any work softening the edges - would have mainly been planting around the fur tree. I've still got to lower the lawn and put drainage in, so (sadly) it doesn't seem to be worth doing any more planting this year. I've still got tomatoes and weeding to do as more horticultural tasks.

Looking forward to next spring when I'll hopefully have time and budget to do a bit more planting up - both in the front and back.

bit of a long shot but I can't remember enough of the article to find it again, hoping someone here may have also seen it:

A while back I read something about how the dominant plant species (weeds) demonstrate deficiencies or vice versa of certain soil conditions/nutrients whatever. it was sort of about working with nature for a less laborious gardening process. Anybody else know about this?

Not sure but could it have been something by Jack Wallington? Garden designer, occasionally on Gardeners World, author of Wild About Weeds. Has written on this sort of thing I'm sure

+1 David Austin

My favourite from them is The Lark Ascending - a lovely peachy orange colour.

Slightly open blooms so they work ok for pollinators.

Has grown really well and quickly without being silly big.

Repeats very well.

Incredible scent.

No health issues with black spot or whatever.

If you want better value as well as supposedly quicker establishment, buy and plant as bare roots in winter not as pot plants in summer.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/may/10/ditch-your-spade-forget-fertiliser-listen-to-the-weeds-alys-fowlers-guide-to-laid-back-gardening

?

I want to get a rose for my wife as the garden is apparently "all fruit and veg"

Plant a few more radishes, job done
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk60LnidD_E