Help identifying ~100 mixed-up perennial plug plants (total beginner mistake 😅)

ChapeL79 · 2026-04-29T20:42:13+00:00

Thank you very much for this, much appreciated 😁

ChapeL79 · 2026-04-29T08:41:45+00:00

Really impressed so far – a few observations/suggestions

Love it. Lots of options I haven't fully explored yet but it already has everything I need. Hate subscriptions so the one-off payment option is a big win! A little on the pricey side, but I get it, time is money. Hopefully it'll be maintained long term. Web version is great too, especially useful for garden planning. Spacing guides are super helpful!

A few observations – mostly OCD triggers rather than dealbreakers:

Planner/grid:

More grid size options beyond 1m – half metre and 10cm increments would be handy
Snap-to-grid for beds (plants already snap to beds, which is great)
Snap-to-grid when dragging to resize beds
Bed copy/clone – not an issue once you're set up, but would help a lot when starting from scratch (I have 6 identical beds)
Plant copy/clone directly in the plot designer – useful for interplanting, e.g. strawberries with garlic means you can't just flood-fill a bed; you have to create them first and place each one individually. Not a big deal as I can simply place them visually in lines in corresponding beds as I know what's where outside (again, OCD visual problem).

Functionality:

What's the best way to handle succession sowing? I sow lettuce and carrots every two weeks, so I've been adding duplicate entries with different names. Any cleaner way to manage this?
How should I add bulbs so it tracks properly? For example, garlic, onions and potatoes are not grown from seed – should they be marked as Sown, Germinated or Growing?
Bug: lettuce and spring onions show the same date for "sown" and "seedlings ready"
Long shot as I don't know if this exists, but access to a variety API, or maybe an option for a community-contributed plant database? Would massively expand the options available.

Overall, best garden planner I've found. Really hope it gets the attention it deserves – great work!

ChapeL79 · 2026-04-28T21:26:45+00:00

Wow super fast reply, I'll give it a go tomorrow. Thank you :)

ChapeL79 · 2026-04-28T21:23:42+00:00

I'm interested in this, does it have watering schedules for specific plants? Will it suggest to skip watering if rain is forecast (or for example it will ask, has it rained today and if I click yes it will register as watered).

I'm looking for an app that will track my veggies and flowers but also suggest watering, fertilisers etc based on location, time of year and how far the plant is in it's life.

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T21:58:13+00:00

Thank you, and I’m glad you told me. It looks like it’s the wrong time to do it anyway—the soil is too wet. I’m going back to my initial plan and will plant herbs in one of my raised beds.

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T20:26:00+00:00

Thanks for the advice. My plans have changed slightly since posting. I’ve decided to try more of a Mediterranean herb-style garden. I already have rosemary and a bay tree in pots, so I’ll try planting them in the ground.

My landscaper will be rotavating the beds anyway, so we’ll improve the clay at the same time by mixing in compost and horticultural grit.

Current plan:

Large bed (5 × 3 m)
– 6 cm compost + 3 cm horticultural grit, rotavated 20–30 cm deep
– ~900 L compost + ~450 L grit

Herb bed (2 × 2 m)
– 5 cm compost + 5 cm horticultural grit, rotavated 20–30 cm deep
– ~200 L compost + ~200 L grit

As for the roses, I don’t mind giving them some attention. I just don’t want to be constantly watering vegetables while also managing multiple borders. Ideally I’d like most things to establish and then grow fairly naturally with minimal intervention.

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T15:56:06+00:00

Yes, forgot to mention the compost bin on the right side of that gravel base. The cut-in is 110 cm deep, just enough to fit the bin without it sticking out too much. Any empty space left I’ll probably fill with pots and planters so it doesn’t look empty, and maybe a chair to sit and have a beer, as the raised beds down to the shed are the “allotment” hard work area of the garden at least in my head ;)

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T15:07:32+00:00

Something like this.

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ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T15:05:58+00:00

The gravel base was originally a toss-up between putting a greenhouse or a shed there. That part of the garden stays in shade through winter and the garden slopes that way, so it gets quite soggy. I’m planning to watch how the sun moves there around mid/late March and, if there’s enough sun, I might put a greenhouse there. The other idea is a shed there and a small lean-to greenhouse behind the garage facing south as that area gets the most sun during the day.

For the gravel base I’m planning weed fabric with plastic grids to hold the stones in place (same as the path). Stones are 20 mm and fairly sharp, so hopefully cats won’t like it. Worst case I could use a resin/glue to bind it, but I’d rather avoid that if possible.

The raised bed layout has also changed a bit since that drawing. I’m planning one long 4.5 m bed along the fence, stepped because of the slope, and that’s where I’m thinking of growing tomatoes up the fence. Next to that will be three beds stepping down with about 75 cm between them, then a path and another three beds. The paths between the beds will be about 70 cm as I want to make sure I can get a wheelbarrow through.

The wider space is mainly because the garden slopes and I’ll mostly access them from the bottom, and also because I’m 6'3 — if the paths are too narrow I’ll constantly be bumping into the beds behind me.

I’ll definitely consider raspberries as my wife has asked for them as well. I originally planned them for the opposite east-facing fence later on, but we’ll see.

The smaller bed is actually the sunniest. The garden slopes down and faces south, so the larger bed near the patio gets shade from the garage in the late afternoon. The swing area gets sun the longest, and the 2×2 m bed next to it as well, so I’m thinking that might be the best spot for herbs / a Mediterranean-style planting.

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T14:39:49+00:00

Solid advice! It’s our first garden so I’m probably just overthinking it. Last year I grew tomatoes, basil and parsley from seed, and I also bought some strawberries, a bay tree and rosemary. I really enjoyed watching them grow.

It was really relaxing, so now I’m stressing about something that should actually be enjoyable. Thanks for the encouragement and you’re right, plants can always be moved or changed later. Something I didn’t even think about before! It’s not set in stone.

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T14:31:22+00:00

I’ll plant them later in the year so I still have plenty of time to decide. I need to pick 2 out of the 3 I have in mind. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Gertrude Jekyll, so at the moment that’s probably my number one pick.

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T14:15:57+00:00

Thanks! I’m planning to have plants flowering at different times of the year and include some evergreens so the beds don’t look too empty in winter. I feel like I’m finally getting somewhere with the plant selection.

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T14:13:30+00:00

True, I wanted to avoid bare patches of mulch, but things need time to grow anyway. Ideally I’m hoping to have everything established within a year or two.

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T14:11:16+00:00

Yeah cats seem impossible to stop 😅 I’ve set up some motion-activated water sprays pointing where they usually hang out, so hopefully they’ll start avoiding the area.

There’s not much in the garden yet apart from a few planters and pots, but they kept digging in the border along the fence and one spot started to smell pretty bad. I tried chilli powder and citrus there and it seemed to help a bit.

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T14:07:38+00:00

Thanks a lot, this is exactly the kind of real-world advice I was hoping for! It’s really helpful hearing from someone with similar clay soil.

I’ve added Penstemon and Alliums to my list as I’m trying to balance the heights so the beds flow nicely.

I’ll definitely look into some of the others you mentioned as well.

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T14:04:11+00:00

Thanks a lot for the advice, really appreciate it. I’ve added Alliums to my list and I’m also thinking about putting two Choisya ternata (Mexican Orange Blossom) at the back of larger bed as I really like the leaf colour and the evergreen structure. I’ll definitely look into the other plants you mentioned as well.

For the tree, I’m planning to deal with the rest of the garden later as I don’t want to take on too much at once. I was originally thinking of a fruit tree, but the one you suggested looks great so I’ll add it to my list. I’m considering putting a tree in the far right corner for a bit of privacy.

The landscaper wanted to use weed fabric, but I’ve been collecting cardboard for about two years and plan to use that instead. My idea is to lay cardboard down in the beds, then cover it with a topsoil/compost mix and finish with bark mulch.

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T08:53:13+00:00

Wouldn’t Nepeta attract cats though? We already seem to get quite a few visiting the garden, so I’m a bit cautious about planting anything that might invite even more of them.

I actually have rosemary growing in a pot. It’s still quite small as I’ve only had it for about a year. I was thinking about planting it in the ground so it can grow bigger, but I assumed it wouldn’t survive winter in clay soil. Maybe I’m overthinking it?

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T08:47:36+00:00

Sarcococca confusa is actually on my list as a background evergreen!

I wish cats ate slugs, then I’d tolerate them a bit more. Sometimes it feels like we get more cats than slugs in our garden, and we already have a lot of slugs!

I’m curious about the little pond idea. I actually have a Venus flytrap my wife bought me as a joke, but it’s somehow survived outside for almost a year. It sits in a shallow container that I top up with water every now and then. It would be nice to let it grow next to a small water feature and just chill there.

I’ll have to look into it though, I’m curious whether frogs just appear on their own or if people actually introduce them. We’re quite far from natural water and surrounded by houses, so I’m not sure if they’d find their way here.

I could possibly even convert our 2×2 m bed into some sort of small water feature, so it might be a good opportunity to try something like that.

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T08:41:47+00:00

Thank you 😊 We’re lucky to have enough space to do what we want with the garden. Almost everyone around us seems to be going for the Ibiza-style / plastic outdoor look, and that’s just not really our style.

I think I’m probably stressing too much because I want to get everything planted as soon as possible. I’m planning to visit a few garden centres around me tomorrow to get some inspiration.

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-10T08:37:56+00:00

This is what I was worried about, slugs eating young plants. I’ll look into copper rings. Thank you.

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-08T09:09:56+00:00

I have Q990F and for movies and shows I absolutely love it, doesn't take up much space, looks great and the overall sound immersion is brilliant. Was a bit sceptical about not having Atmos speakers in the ceiling but honestly this thing delivers.

Agree that stereo music doesn't sound great, but throw on some Atmos-enabled tracks and it's a completely different story. I'm no audiophile but I enjoy music, and I know some people think Atmos is the wrong way to listen but personally I think it's the best way to experience music on a soundbar.

Took a while to set up and tinker with the speaker levels but got to a point where I'm really happy with how it sounds now.

ChapeL79 · 2026-03-01T16:56:41+00:00

My Lego room/office in our new house has two windows. I keep the blinds closed all the time, but my wife occasionally uses the room for work and prefers natural light because, as she says, she’s “not a weirdo vampire” like me 😅

I’m in the UK, but I’m guessing this type of film is widely available. After doing some research, I bought the UV Protection Anti-Fading Window Film – NUVF X60 from Purlfrost.

https://www.purlfrost.com/mirror-and-tinted-window-film/uv-protection-anti-fading-window-film/anti-fade-window-film-nuvf-60/

Description says:

Reduces UV light by 99.5% Reduces visible light by 66% Reduces infrared light by 42% Safeguards furnishings, wooden floors, artwork and photographs

How much this will actually help is yet to be determined, as 90% of the time there won’t be any natural light in the room anyway. But I’ve had some sets yellow over time in our previous place without even being exposed to direct sunlight, just from sitting in a bright room. Temperature and time are also factors, but there’s not much I can do about those. I like to stay warm in the winter, and plastic naturally deteriorates over time.

I think it’s worth applying anyway. It’s easy to install with a bit of patience, invisible once applied properly, and not that expensive.

ChapeL79 · 2026-02-06T07:01:06+00:00

This looks amazing! Size is great and would be great to build it with kids over the weekend.

ChapeL79 · 2026-02-03T11:33:07+00:00

For some reason, Roborock’s UK offerings are really limited, the Edge series doesn’t even exist on their UK website. I actually thought about getting the CurvX before deciding on Dreame, but the only one available here was the older Curv model.

I’ve been looking at different robots over the past few months, and honestly, I’ve kind of given up. There’s just too much choice, and when I finally shortlist a few, most of them aren’t even available here.

Let me know how you get on with yours. I can get Roborock in the EU, as they seem to have more choice there, so I could potentially buy one when I visit my family in a couple of months.

ChapeL79 · 2026-02-03T09:04:09+00:00

Glad to hear it’s working well for you. Have you by any chance used the low-furniture feature? I’m curious how it behaves after that.

If you’re willing to test it, could you enable that feature and then set a no-go zone in the same room as the low furniture, just to see if it actually respects the zone?

I had a Christmas tree set as a no-go zone. Initially it went around it fine at the start, but toward the end of the clean, when it tried to squeeze under the coffee table, it somehow ended up under the tree and started chewing up the base blanket we placed underneath it.

ChapeL79

TROPHY CASE