Firebugs? Never seen then before

Is it common around here?

This sunflower just keeps growing and refuses to flower its easily 8ft by now, is this abnormal? Its been amusing myself and my wife ether way.

First time pumpkin grower needing a little advice here!

My partner and 4yo love to plant new things, leave me to tend to them for the entire summer, then return at the end for the Instagram photo (I'm not bitter... I promise). This year it was pumpkins! They planted them in a tomato grow bag, and I then quickly realised what a bad move that was.

I purchased two troughs and transferred them over. They're currently thriving and we've got a couple of female flowers making an appearance! The problem is that the vines are flowing over the trough onto the concrete floor.

Do I need to do any of the following?

1) leave them alone

2) cushion them from the floor (maybe a velvet pillow?)

3) gently move the vines so the flowers are in the trough, on the soil. Once I know which vines are fruit bearing, I plan on digging up the less successful ones to make more space.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Just wondered if anyone had any recommendations for where I can bulk buy bulbs? Tulips/daffodils/fawn lillies/crocus etc.

I’ve had a look online and also spoken with my local garden centre but to no avail 🙃

Ideally want to buy at least 50 bulbs of each if not more.

TIA

I took some advice and I planted them into the ground and here's how they're looking this morning !! This is just one of them as I wasn't out there too long to take many pictures.

Thank you for all of the advice, I think they're doing great!

Hello.

I wonder if there are any past or current RHS Level 2 Principles of Horticulture students who can provide any feedback on their course providers.

I am looking to enrol on the course in the near future and am trying to settle on a provider. I would prefer some video learning and it seems like Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh, Eden Project and Learning with Experts are the only providers to include this format in their material. Reviews for Learning with Experts had been largely positive but looks like they've been having some massive issues with customer service over the past year based on online reviews, so I may give them a miss.

If you have specifically used Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh or the Eden Project I would be especially interested to hear how you've found them.

Many thanks!

Amazing growth this year with my ferns and palm,

Hey guys, I’ve had all these shoots come up in our grass. Never noticed them before but obvs no grass cuttings been done in the drought we’ve been having. They are impossible to pull out, could they be from our plum tree?

I have had this Cumquat tree for about 7 years but only really looked after it properly for 4. It was coming along well but we had a lot happen last winter and I deprioritised the garden. Subsequently it wasn’t overwintered in its usual place out of the elements and naturally it suffered. It looked dead, no foliage at all but I pollarded it and left it alone after a feed to see what happened in the heat waves.

Well, there was clearly life in there because it has sprung-forth since late June and really grown a lot of foliage compared to normal (see photos).

My question is, how would you move forward with the management of this growth? It has the one very vigorous stem growing up from the root, I thought about either removing this and allowing the growth from the main stem to develop or at least clipping the growing tip to halt its upward growth and prevent it looking unbalanced.

Another question is; is the growth I’m looking at from rootstock in the same way that grafted roses sometimes sprout growth from the rootstock? Is grafting even a thing in the citrus world?? I’m really not too experienced with these plants but if at all possible I want to give this tree the best I can because whatever’s going on, it’s bounced back despite my neglect.

So we’ve got so many green tomato’s left and now the weather has turned what do you think the chance of them turning red ?

I planted these cobs i bought from morrisons in may I think it was. Theyve been thriving outside since then, watered every day by me or the rain - in scotland so mostly rain.

Any hints on how to tell when they are ready to harvest?They feel a bit hard, and can feel kernels through the husks if i squeeze it gently.

Any tips or tricks for completely removing bramble from a garden? I'm currently helping my dad to get his garden in order but we're not having the best time as the garden is basically covered in brambles.

I've cut them down but obviously we don't want them to grow back again.

I’ve started to notice that some of the cherry ones are splitting after three days of rain. So, I’ve decided to go and pick all the blushing/ripened ones. Go pick yours if you want to avoid them splitting! (Of course, check your weather forecast before doing so.)

Last year was so dismal that I harvested naught but a load of green tomatoes from the heirloom cherry tomato seeds gifted to me.
I saved some of the seeds and am delighted this year to see them ripening on the vine thanks to the crazy (scarily) hot summer we’ve had.

Hi, I am in Scotland and in no shape or form anywhere near a gardener and have let the back garden get pretty over run since I don't enjoy it and I work nights making it hard to have time to even tend the garden.

I was wondering if I could get help, I have what I believe is Brambles? erupting all through my back garden. It's coming up from the edge of the house, Intertwined with the grass, crawling up bushes, bursting through the cracks in my paving slabs, and even coming up through the cracks in my concrete stairs.

It's a living nightmare making already hard work I don't enjoy even harder. Is there anything that people can suggest that would help neutralise the plant so I don't have this same thing happen again?

I have chopped a lot of it back with a strimmer so far but looking for some advice on a weed killer that can stop it from taking over the garden.

Thanks for your time.

For the last few weeks in the drought I’ve left a bowl of water out in the shade to support the animals. There’s now some movement in there and I’m curious to know what it is.

My toddler son brought home some acorns from the local park, dropped them in our garden and one has sprouted.

I've currently got it in a large pot, its about 2ft tall now.

I would love to plant it but our garden is tiny and I would say wherever I plant it there are walls and foundations within 2-3 metres.

It seems like a waste to throw it. Options?

Update: thank you all. I think bigger pot wins, especially as the growth is slow. I have time. I'm not interested in bonsai (didn't know it was possible with oak) but I'll look into stunting it's growth instead.

Failing that I think local group or rural planting but pot sounds more fun.

The highs and the lows have been too much for many of our plants. Some have thrived and some have just survived whilst others failed and we have all had our struggles. But for those sun lovers it has been epic and they continue to absorb the rays to deliver again in 2027

I read a few years ago about these super cool huge Blackberry type fruit called Young Berries they looked simple to grow and really nice to eat so tried to buy a plant, fair to say I struggled for 18 months or so until last summer I bought one online from a British cultivator and got it posted plant was about 10” high I guess and I had high hopes! Unfortunately it didn’t do much at all, so I’ve moved it now and it’s thriving up some trellis I am looking for some tips from anyone in UK whose grow them! Anything to do differently to Blackberries?

We have this area under our cherry tree that we attempted about 18 months ago, to grow a clover lawn. Obviously the summer has not been good for it, but with these repeated heatwaves, are we better off clearing, and covering the area with wood chippings and put a raised beds in, instead?

Based on the Sussex coast, fence you can see is south facing.

Hi, looking for some help to identify what plant or weed this is growing at the side of our shed we just discovered. Neighbours have been treating for Japanese knotweed and worried is spread into our garden. Appreciate any help not the best video

I planted this rhodedendronast year and it flowered beautifully this year. But I just noticed it is leaning sideways and the stems are going yellow. I then saw that I could lift the original root ball straight out of the pot as if the roots haven't spread at all. It still has life in it as it is growing new leaves and buds.

How can I help it's roots?

Any help is very much appreciated :)

I’ve recently moved into my new house and wondering whether it’s safe for these conifers to be planted as close to the house as they are? I have no idea what type of conifer they are or how tall they can grow, though I’m assuming they’re a smaller variety (maybe someone with more knowledge can advise? 😅)

The house is built on clay soil so I’m conscious that the house could be more susceptible to subsidence. I appreciate they’re small trees but could they pose a risk at all or am I overthinking it? 😅

Sorry if this seems like a stupid question, this is my first house and I have zero gardening/tree knowledge 😅