Can anyone put a name to this sedum please?

   

Can you see the smallest sunflower?      

Here’s a close up in case you can’t spot it in the mess that is my emergency “they have to be planted somewhere bed” .

   

He is 39cm tall and the flower head is 4cm wide.

I've just acquired a 6.5 litre slow cooker - its BIG. 

I confess to having a smaller one, sitting in the back of the cupboard. Think I've only used it twice.     So why have I acquired a second one, you may ask? I'm hoping that I could use it for slow cooking chutneys - the sort that simmer away on the hob for hours and need constant attention, stirring and to control the heat . 

So my question to the panel is, will it work, and are there any other uses for a slow cooker apart from meat, stews and pulses. I think I've read about making bread and yogurt in one ?
All ideas welcome.

Today I’ve made bathroom tile templates ( the real ones are very heavy) . Had a go at laying them in lots of configurations to see what works. Anyone want to have a go   ? 

Bathroom measurements

   

Door is on right hand side of the 210cm wall
Sink & toilet are back against the 167cm wall ( tiling underneath them)
Shower is 1m square located on the 104cm measurement ( which is actually the front edge of the shower not a wall) 

The tiles 
8 big = 61cm x 61cm light colour 
3 medium = 40cm x 40cm light colour  ( also 7 half’s and another 5 with big corners missing)
7 medium = 40cm x 40cm dark colour  ( 1 with corner missing) 
15 small = 20cm x 20 cm light colour 

So if anyone is really really bored. 

I've just had a trip down memory lane , reading an old thread (2021- 52 weeks of doing something different). https://gardenandgossip.org/showthread.p...=challenge
In 2021, we were dealing Covid, Small Chilli started building her house, Pyrenees Plot became a French Citizen and JJB and I were muddling our way through the year. Its worth a read - better than watching the box.

I surprised myself by realising that I stopped drinking wine and using paper tissues in 2021 and I've not done so since.

It struck me that its time to do this again - starting this week, the first week of September and try to keep going until 2025. 

Anyway want to join me?

   

Your September Butterfly spotting challenge has arrived.

    This is an old photo of GH2 as pictures speak louder than words. GH2 has been there for 40+ years. 

Its on a concrete base - no soil. There are beds on 3 sides. 

Initially, the beds were lined with clear plastic to hold water, and topped with a layer of gravel.  I grow tomatoes and cucumbers in open bottomed, "ring culture" pots that sit on the gravel beds, sending their roots into the gravel for water. You add feed to the pots but water to the gravel. 
At the end of the season, I've been emptying the soil in the pots onto the gravel. At some point, I cleared out all the gravel and soil and started again, just using a plastic liner and a layer of compost (no gravel). After many years or emptying the old compost into the beds, they are about 6" deep, enough to grow beetroot, lettuce etc in. 

This year, for whatever reason, the tomatoes in GH2 have been very poor and there have been lots of ants in the soil. I've decided to empty the soil out of the bed on the right (the sunny side) and line it with the wool insulation that I'm collecting. This will hold the water. I'll put some coir & compost on top of the insulation then move the supermarket crates (with their seedling salads) into the GH over winter. In spring I'll start again with ring culture pots and hope for a better season next year. 

Does anyone else grow with ring culture?

This area behind the post box. Is getting fenced, because the sheep & deer haven’t read the RHS website saying they don’t eat daffodils     . I’ve got quite a few foxgloves in there as well.  I’m going to add more . I now need to grow lots of other things in there so there’s some all year round interest. But because it’s already planted with a huge number of daffodils I need things I can grow from seed so I can plant small things without disturbing or damaging the bulbs. I need it to look after its self , fight off weeds because it won’t be that easy to get into once it’s fenced. 
I’m thinking shorter plants so they don’t fall over in the wind, but open to any suggestions.
This year all I did was strim it once. Because the only thing in there was grass and rushes and the foxglove seed heads. 
I’ve added a thick layer of wood chip. To hopefully help suppress some of the weeds. I’ll add more once fence is up because it is a favourite spot for dogs to stand and say hi to our 2 hooligans. So a lot of the wood chip has been moved. 
Would planting annuals every year after the daffodils work ? Would you go with perennials? 

   

It’s kinda the first thing people see. So needs to be loud and impressive. Now I’ll settle for more impressive than wood chip & weeds.

Had an odd start to the day yesterday. Short version. A trip to the bright lights of Oban with a deliberate 20 mile ride in the wrong direction to start. Don’t ask, long, not very interesting story     .
Anyway while sat in a bus shelter in the middle of nowhere           I had some visitors.

                      Road signs are excellent scratching posts.

The rest of the herd was a bit further up the road causing chaos with the traffic as they do every day. 
     
Actually it’s not the cows that cause the problem it’s all the tourists that stop their cars in the middle of the road to photograph them that cause the problems.