So gutted about garden...

[BolloxtoGender]

Just noticed this morning that some caterpillar 🐛 has chomped through most of the shoots on my clematis.

And slugs 🐌 and snails have eaten their way their much of my sedums.

I m feeling really annoyed and just want to vent because I was so looking for to spring and seeing the plants grow.

Please tell me they will bounce back.

Also any tips on what to do please?

Your bulb lasagna pot may be ok again if you neglect/ignore it (I tend to forget what's in my pots), but the compost in the pot may now be depleted so they may not give such a good show next year. Cutting the spent flowers off is a good idea. Or you can plant them in your garden when they've finished. Foxgloves can be slow to get going but once they're happy they seed themselves everywhere.

Thanks everyone for the info about foxgloves seedlings, yes I only just planted them (they're supposed to have 2 weeks at under 6 C) which they did just about have) so with any luck they'll be up next year. I don't have acid soil though so that may not help.

With the pots of bulbs I also forget what I put in mine, I always use coffee and tea dregs mixed with rainwater to water the pots and never need to change the compost (over many years!!) because the flowers are really happy ! I have a lovely pot of mixed daffodils coming up this year which I had totally forgotten about!! I find that I can keep french tarragon in pots happy this way too.

Coffee and tea dregs - i haven’t tried that, does that include the ground coffee / tea leaves ?
I put all my pots out this week as it seemed unlikely we would have a frost (I am near the sea) , then woke up this morning to a frosty field ! So I hope I haven’t killed all the dahlias.

No not really I put them in the compost heap. I'm sure a few grounds obviously mixed with water wouldn't hurt. When there's no rainwater (I collect it) I sometimes use tap water ( or washing up water, I don't use strong detergents though) that has been allowed to sit for a few days too.

I can really recommend it because I've been doing it for 15 years without changing the compost! I change my pots twice yearly from pelargoniums to hyacinths and or daffodils, they're all happy!

Oh gosh I can't grow dahlias, in pots or out! I don't have clayey soil. Good luck with them! I'll put my pelargoniums out in late April.

I might bring them all back in tonight. Sigh.

Yes you might be being a bit optimistic! My nectarine tree is blossoming and I'm getting a bit concerned about it. I checked and found that it's quite close to a neighbour's central heating outlet so hopefully stopping any freezing!

Hadn't heard about nematodes before. Just been reading and they are NOT effective on snails because of the shells. Good for slugs though.

I’ve moved about a lot and had quite a few gardens. I’ve found new gardens are often quite petty but as they become established and the prey/predator balance rights itself, the problems tend to disappear.

I live quite close to a farm. One spring morning I was in bed and thought I could hear the sheep/lambs baaing , then half awake I thought again too close, so I jumped out of bed to look out of the window to see about 20 of them chomping on my spring flowers and bulbs not happy

ppeatfruit - is your nectarine in under cover, or outside ?

It's outside in a sheltered spot Charles it bears fruit most years. (we are midway inland down western Fr.). I've had much more trouble with 2 mirabelle trees and an apricot tree that turned into something else!

Victoria We've been offered a couple of sheep to keep our back field down. It needs new fencing, they are escape artists! So we haven't said yes to them until we renew the fencing!

Your local farmer will feel guilty!

Yes Tinkly our wildlife garden has many more 'holes' in it , we hear and see more owls and birds of prey. The local mairie has stopped spraying the verges (I've been organic for 15 years) and the birds and bees etc. are much more in evidence, with many less slugs and snails.