Plants, whats he doing wrong?

[garmcqui]

Been round to a mate's today and he's having a bad time with his garden. I've attached a few photos to show.

These hanging baskets were bought a few weeks ago, he says he waters them most evenings (with water from a water butt) but they don't look healthy. I'm not sure what plant they are.



He has mushroom/toadstools in his lawn too, I'm unsure what to recommend to kill them? He's nervous as he has a 2 year old whom he doesn't want to eat them.



Lastly, he has a potted tree by the door (boxwood I think??) which doesn't look too healthy to me, any suggestions? Patches look dead (brown) and there is some sort of white growth on much of the foliage.



Any suggestions I can pass on would be appreciated.

 

[lostinthelight]

The plants in the baskets need feeding and regular dead heading.
The box looks as if a dog is cocking its leg on it or cats are spraying on it.
Toadstools usually appear int the night so best he picks them each morning if he's worried.
litl

 

[Deleted2797112]

The petunias need deadheading - snip or pinch the dead flowers off (behind the seed head). That will encourage new flowers to form and improve the appearance of the plants. The yellowing of the leaves is probably because the baskets have been allowed to dry out at some point and they've exhausted the nutrients in the compost so need feeding. Water as needed keeping the compost moist but not waterlogged and feed once a week with a liquid GP feed. The last basket looks pretty crowded. I'd deadhead, snip off the obviously dead leaves and stems and perhaps take one of the foliage plants out.

There's little you can do about toadstools. There are no fungicides available for them and you won't stop them coming out when the conditions are right. They're the fruiting bodies of fungi and fungi are everywhere. If he's worried just pick them off.

The box to me looks as if it has box blight. On a small ornamental shape like that, I'd probably bin the whole thing as cutting out the infected part and treating the rest of the plant will ruin the appearance anyway.

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