Does anyone know anything about gardening?

What sort of soil is it?

There are some native plants that like dampish soil near pond, Purple Loosestrife likes damp and sun. Irish Flag irises are another one.

Perhaps the gardener meant invasive, as-in, non-native should not be allowed to spread? Pheasantberry is one such plant...nice, but it goes everywhere and is on the "don't sell list" in Norn Ire.

I planted this cheapo clematis at the start of summer with minimal expectations but it has recently started to shoot up. Would ideally like it to cover a large part of the back fence rather than a single shoot continuing to grow upwards and wondering what the best way to do that is? Is it just a matter of leaving it to grow for a few more years?

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Good question - I'll need to check soil (am very much a beginner gardener).

Loosestrife came up when I was looking before although it still seems to be mentioned as possibly invasive!;

IIRC, at least for the first year, you want to cut a clematis right back so that it doesn't become too leggy.

Edit:

Pruning newly-planted clematis
To encourage bushy plants with multiple stems, it’s a good idea to give all newly-planted climbing clematis an initial prune:

Cut back all stems to 15-30cm (6in-1ft) from ground level, cutting just above a bud
Prune autumn-planted clematis in the February or March after planting, and spring-planted clematis immediately after planting.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/clematis/growing-guide

That's really useful to know as we've recently planted one.

I planted a banana. Musa Basjoo. It probably won't like being super damp over winter though.

I wish I'd known when I planted one two years ago, but here we are, glad I can help others!

Cheers, that seems a pretty drastic prune that I wouldn't have considered.

It is a native plant, I don't know how badly it self seeds.

We have some in the Belfast Hills but there is has to compete with grasses, so there isn't too much of it. I don't mind self-seeders myself, free plants! But perhaps a cultivar is more behaved?

Geum Leonard's Way (water aven) is also a nice plant, lots of flower and also likes a bit of damp.

A year ago:

KatBalou'sPhone

Dahlia lovers - gardening express have a deal on 50 tubers for £4.99.
put them away somewhere dry and plant them out next year.

https://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/garde­n-plants/special-deals/mse-dahlias

A year later and I'm getting a couple of photos every day from family who planted them. Amazing zingy pink squiggly ones, bright orange pom poms. 10 pence each. Total bargain. Poncy garden centers knock them out for a tenner.

Awesome news. Not all of my tubers made it, some were a bit shrivelled but the ones I did get have been brilliant.

Any reason I should weed out the herb Robert from my beds? It’s quite a nice filler

Nope, I've got some in places. The bees like it, I just weed it out if it gets a bit out of hand.

It does get everywhere, including small cracks in mortar etc, if that bothers you.

It's easy to remove though so I don't mind it myself

Ah cool, that’s what I was hoping.

Next question: my front garden is basically a slope of grass; can I just dig holes and plant stuff amongst it, or will the grass smother it out? Would I need to plant established hardy bastards? There’s a flat patch at the bottom where I was going to put a bike shed but fuck me they’re expensive. Will probably just plant some tall pretty stuff instead and keep lugging the bike into the house.

This is nice. Forgot what it is. Day lily maybe?

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Yes you can.

Obviously there is a risk of the grass taking light and moisture.

The biggest issues you'll face imo are how you mow and what happens next year.

We re-did our patio and as a result there were a load of homeless plants. I put red robin(?), poppies and other misc flowers in a patch of the lawn. It looks a bit shit right now, but up until a month ago the long grass with seed heads interspersed with flowers looked great. Don't have any good photos from the, but this is what it looks like now. As you can see the flowers have died back with the foliage hidden and rhe grass has got too leggy.

The other photo is where I chucked the fushas and the grass and existing chives have grown up around. Again cutting the grass poses a challenge. (sometime over the early spring this will be a bed again).

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Where are you all getting pots from? I’m looking for a load of tidy simple terracotta pots, but pots all seem to be sold on an individual expensive basis. Are there any outlets that sell quality bulk buys?

https://www.wmpot.co.uk/terracotta-plant-pots-f15-155cm-dia-pk-10

These guys do multipacks

What size are you after? When I was looking at the start of summer for large terracotta pots, I couldn't find anywhere online that was as cheap as the local garden centre (Camden Garden Centre). They had 35cm diameter ones for £20. I think only B&Q was cheaper than this.

I think a lot of the garden centre ones are supplied by Woodlodge and you can check if there are any stockists near you. https://www.woodlodge.co.uk/collections/terracotta-pots

Slightly dull update, but possibly useful.

2 months on this is how the sealant has held up on black limestone. I'll give another update a year in.

It's been rinsed off now and then, but otherwise generally abused by the kids with scooters, stones etc. I'm sure cleaning would bring it up a bit better, but I sort of wanted to show what it's like in reality day-to-day.

My assessment overall is that it is worth doing:

1. It brings out the colour
   
2. It makes each slab more even in colour
   
3. It protects from sun/UV and water - see the state of the spares
   
4. Spills don't stain (well give you time to clean before the do)
   
   

Minty fresh:

Today (with and without sealant):

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Garden centers seem to be best. I think you just need to shop around a bit.

Due to their weight and fragility I don't think there's any mileage in online if price is a consideration.

Yeah, just amazed how expensive they are! When you need a few good sized ones youre looking at £100s

Worth keeping an eye on freecycle pages too, you get a lot of plastic ones but plenty of bigger terracotta ones people want rid of.

I'm probably the only person on here who won't find your update dull, thanks for that! It looks to be well worth doing, only a slight colour loss and the bonus benefits you mentioned.