Novice gardener.

[Grandadwasthatyou]

Have decided to brighten up my patio with some pots so duly queued up at the garden centre and came home with a substantial amount of plants.
Have now realised I am short of compost for the last few plants.
Can I use Levingtons rose, shrub and bush compost for my lupins instead of the multi purpose compost as I have found a bag in the shed?

Also when I am putting the azalea and little rhododendrons in their pots I know I need to use ericaceous compost but should I mix it with some top soil?
And finally how often should I feed all the tubs?
I really wish I knew more about gardening!

I don't know that particular Levington's compost but I would guess it's a soil-based compost, like John Innes (check the label to confirm this, or not). If so, it'll have more substance than multi-purpose compost and the best thing for summer pots you want to look good for several months is to mix the two - John Innes on its own tends to be too solid and heavy, but multipurpose on its own can't nourish plants for more than a few weeks.

Don't mix anything into the ericaceous compost except grit for drainage (if you've got any).

Once things are in flower I tend to feed them once a week. Ericaceous plants need appropriate food but I feed everything with tomato feed as it also encourages flowers. And look out for slugs on the lupins.

Happy gardening!

Well, that was educational. I looked up that compost and it's not what I expected at all. It seems to be marketed as a soil improver, for when you're planting shrubs etc in a border. I don't see any harm in mixing it with MPC in pots, but that doesn't seem to be what it's aimed at.

Thank you for that. I found it in the corner of the shed half used but wanted to check first. I am fed up with spending a fortune on plants and then they die off because I don't know how to look after them properly.

Hmm. Compost goes "off" after a while as the nutrients break down, but my theory of lockdown gardening is that we need to improvise with what we've got and so I'd still be inclined to mix it with the MPC.

If you want gardening tips, there's loads of useful stuff on the Royal Horticultural Society and Gardeners' World websites and the MN gardening corner is a mine of information too.

Oh no the compost I've used must be at least a couple of years old!
I hope I haven't scuppered my chances of a nice show in the back garden.

Compost goes "off" after a while as the nutrients break down

The organic components may change but the mineral nutrients won't have vanished.

I'd mix it up with the other compost or soil and use it.

And also my Pieris forest flame has become scorched over the last few weeks when we had really hot weather. Will it recover or is it for the compost?

Eek! Was it in a very sunny spot? You could scrape off a tiny bit of bark or snip off the tip of a shoot to see whether there's live, green material inside. I would move it to a sheltered spot and adopt the wait and see approach - a recent mail order plant of mine looked terrible when it arrived, with shrivelled, desiccated leaves that all dropped off within days, but after a few weeks on the shady side of the garden it has perked up and new leaves are appearing. Trying to revive ailing plants is all part of the lockdown gardening experience!

Oh dear. I’d do as fromibiza suggests, but also trim off the branches down to about 30 cms, or where the green starts, if lower. Pieris are very good at regenerating from the lower stems. Some I have lost branches to heavy snow and frost, but did bounce back.

The Pieris looks as if it didn't have enough water. It probably needed a good watering twice a day. You can't win everything - it only takes a day of not spotting something drying out to kill it off - I killed a whole propagator full of seedlings. At least your Pieris has reserves in its roots and may re-shoot.

Oh no the compost I've used must be at least a couple of years old! It just means it may be a bit short of nutrients, but you can compensate with added fertiliser. Either a liquid one that you add to water every week or couple of weeks (read the label), or slow-release pellets that you can scatter on the top of the soil every 6 weeks.

I've got a potted pieris, the lovely spring red after fading tends to get scorched if there's a dry spell in spring. There's a dilemma once I've run out of rainwater (as it's an ericaceous plant) - hope for rain or use tap water. I really should know by now to go with the latter sooner! Not as bad as the OP's, I'll trim off the worst and based on previous behaviour it will be fine... and it'll be longer before it outgrows its pot.

What it looks like now vs 2 months ago....

Thank you lovely gardeners. I so wish I had more knowledge but nobody in the family does and I just hope for the best.
Am about to plant a Passiflora caerulea, which says soil improver should be added to the soil. Does this mean I could use my earlier mentioned Levingtons compost?

Also to avoid bombarding Mumsnet with questions which is the clearest most useful website for beginners like me?

@FromIbizaToTheNorfolkMaud ..it was on my north facing back doorstep and I must admit I didn't even think to water it during those very hot weeks we had a short while ago!

Don't be disheartened. The main difference between me and you here is that I've been obsessed with interested in gardening for a very long time now so have built up some knowledge as I've gone along. You'll get there too. Don't feel shy about asking questions here and I think there's a thread for people who've taken up gardening during lockdown that you might find interesting. As I mentioned earlier, there's also lots of online advice on the RHS and Gardeners' World websites and many tutorials on Youtube.

I think the Levington's compost will be fine for the passionflower.

There were no websites when I first had a garden, but I had a subscription to Gardeners World magazine.

Thank you for your help.
Will add some photos once I've got everything planted and sorted. It makes such a difference to my happiness levels when I can sit in the garden ( which is mainly patio I might add) and look at the gorgeous plants.

that's great.

I like patio containers, but (as with the pieris) I do sometimes forget in dry spring months they may need water. It's obvious they do in summer when it's hot and dry; winter they're unlikely to get too dry and you don't want them soggy.

Watering on a summers evening is a pleasure, as is pottering around deadheading or pulling the odd weed.

Passion flowers like to be planted facing South or South West for best results. I’ve planted mine facing West, not the best option.

which is the clearest most useful website for beginners like me? RHS is good at the moment, trying very hard to bring new people into gardening therefore a lot of comprehensive advice. Add "RHS" to any google search you do and you should pick up their fact sheets.

I agree (I guess I would as a very long time RHS member!). Their website is the most comprehensive and most authoritative - the GW one is ok in my view but doesn't have the same coverage or the same level of detail. And as Dint says, the RHS had really stepped up its efforts lately to get more people into gardening and help those who are just starting.

I noticed the RHS has some stuff aimed at kids but which might be helpful to some beginners for eg plants easy to grow from seed.

If anyone is interested in wildlife friendly gardening, the rspb has various ideas.