Late spring project

[Kayleigh]

I need some advice on what to plant in this 8ft x 10ft space. I have lots of evergreens and very few flowers around my garden. I want to change this. I want nectar rich, pretty flowers beneficial to birds and insects...The plot has cooch grass so I intend to dig lots of manure into it then cover the hole area with a membrane and plant into that then cover with wood chippings..I also want spring bulbs also for wildlife.We also have a dog that likes to trample my plants .. The soil is heavy clay hence the manure..It is well drained as it is raised. It gets afternoon sun. I grew chillies in it one year so I'm pretty sure things will thrive. Any ideas..
These are f1 Apache chilli plants..


I have planted a Virginia creeper and a climbing hydrangea at the back to hide that hideous wall.

[galanthus]

I would definately plant a light pink lavatera at the back. Copius amounts of nectar and pollen-rich flowers for most of the summer and well into late autumn. The leaves on mine don't seem to come off winter time, well not all of them. It provides cover for my frogs and is covered in all sorts of bees, hoverflies and the odd butterfly when in flower. Can become quiite woody, which means you can shape and structure it as you want over the years. Very quick growing too. Just found a pic from end of autumn when flowers were wilting a little.

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

I need some advice on what to plant in this 8ft x 10ft space. I have lots of evergreens and very few flowers around my garden. I want to change this. I want nectar rich, pretty flowers beneficial to birds and insects...The plot has cooch grass so I intend to dig lots of manure into it then cover the hole area with a membrane and plant into that then cover with wood chippings..I also want spring bulbs also for wildlife.We also have a dog that likes to trample my plants .. The soil is heavy clay hence the manure..It is well drained as it is raised. It gets afternoon sun.

The fact that this is a raised bed with masonary surround raises questions about moisture availability in the Summer months. Your intention to use a membrane and chippings is probably useful in that respect, though I would suggest using either home made or a bought peat free compost rather than a manure.

Because of the potential for draught effect I would suggest Lavenders, Rosemaries, Thymes and Helianthemum, which could be underplanted with bulbs although I'm not sure there is enough unconstrained space for many bulbs to do well over time.

I would not include any large or vigourous plants because of the demand for water. Do remember that although a membrane will assist in moisture retention, it will also divert rain away from the soil so that in at least the first year of planting you will need to water regularly.

CM

[galanthus]

Thinking about it, you're better off with loam-based topsoil stuff as this will retain the water as it's heavier. Ordinary compost will dry out quite quickly and as Cotham says this can lead to dry bed.

[Kayleigh]

The soil is heavy clay It doesn't dry out too bad, it used to be a herb garden but the cooch grass got out of hand and the plants got old and tired and needed replacing. I used a soaker hose but I never watered the herbs. We left the chillies for 2 weeks without watering while on holiday. So drying out is not a problem. It is quite a large area 8ft was only an estimate I think its bigger. It is built on soil not a solid base. I want to get some nutrients into it with the manure. Its from the garden centre in bags and is like compost I have used it before. Its brilliant for new plants. Its more of a soil improver. Its not the stuff that's in a farmyard. I think most plants will do well there. If you look at the first pic you can see a soaker hose dotting around the plants.

I was thinking of putting Lavender and heather around the outside wall as they are evergreen and the heather flowers in early spring for bees.

galanthus what is the spacing for the lavatera how wide and high will it grow.

[Susie]

Oh Kayleigh, what an exciting project! There are so many great plants you could put in there.

Do you think you could squeeze an ivy in the back against the wall? I know you already have other climbers but they are both deciduous so it is going to look a bit bare in winter. Obviously ivy is a great source of late summer/autumn nectar for insects as well as providing shelter for insects and birds. Honeysuckle is a great one fragrance and moths and you can get semi evergreen variaties.

Trailing over the stone wall and in between the stonework I would plant trailing plants such as aubretia and trailing bell flower. You might be able to get away with pinks, rock roses, sheeps bit scabious and thrift too if you are lucky.

For flowers at this time of year which the bees love I would include a sarcococa and some hellebores. For the late summer I would include ice plant.

I'll echo everyone else and say go for the herbs; lavender, thyme, sage, oregano, fennel, and feverfew.

Buddleia seems to thrive everywhere, as does valerian. I wouldn't be without either in my garden.

Lungwort seems to be a favourite with bees and bee flies in early spring.

Other plants I am growing this year from seed which I think you could try are vebena bonariensis (great nectar for butterflies) red campion (campion moth caterpillars are so funny to watch!) garlic mustard, honesty and sweet rocket (food plant for white caterpillars) devils bit and giant scabious, ox eye daisies, cornflowers, corncockle, corn marigold, pot marigold, corn camomile, night scented stock, giant tobacco plant and snapdragon.

There are so many more but I have probably sent you off to sleep.

Good luck whatever you choose to do.

[hobble]

I would not personally cover the area with a membrane as it will become difficult to enrich your soil, year on year. Couch grass would need to be dug out completely, its roots are visible. (Hard work I know) I would then dig in a large quantity of well rotted wood chippings, home made compost and a small amount of manure and maybe some peat free compost/soil conditioner or any thing organic.
Birds and insects will benefit from all that lovely stuff and over the years if you continue to improve the soil it will become easier to deal with.
Rain water will find it's way in and if the soil is full of organic matter should hold moisture.
New plantings, changes, and plant moves will be easier than trying to cut through the membrane, plus the bark chipping do get blown around and dry out.

[galanthus]

The beauty of the lavatera is that it grows as big as you want it to. I keep mine at around 5 and a half foot high and keep the spread around 6 foot. wide. Although can be bigger up or down depending on how hard you prune.

[Kayleigh]

I already have other plants around the garden including ivy, honeysuckle, budlier, cotoneaster, hawthorn, blackthorn, pyracantha, sage, thyme, 2 rosemary and others so this space is for flowers. I think I will give the lavatera a go. Susie there used to be ivy there the neighbour complained as it was going in his drainpipe and over his fence

I was thinking of putting a few hellebores I have got some scabious seeds I want mainly perennials. Then every year fill gaps with annuals poached egg plant ect. I love verbena so that's a must and fennel I have oregano in another wall that is so pretty and its in the photo with the grass. I am also going to put lilies in there. There is a zebra grass in the middle I am going to plant around that as I want to keep it. The fronds are quite nice and iv seen sparrows eating the seeds..I tried aubretia but it died and lavender is dog proof.

[Geoff F]

If you are thinking about using a membrane to prevent weeds this is my experience: Spend a lot of time getting the soil good beforehand. You can't dig it or add compost later, but soluable fertilisers are no problem, even Gromore can be sprinkled around the planting holes.

I found that bark/wood chips etc tends to rot down to compost then weeds grow in this 'new soil' layer so it all has to be removed occasionally. Chippings are much more durable and if you get natural stone chips they don't look too bad, especially when covered by foliage. Plants which lose their leaves create the same problem as bark, even with chippings, so the majority of foliage needs to be evergreen.

When annuals are used I surround the planting hole with large peebles/cobles etc so that you can find them again and to keep chippings or bark chips clear of the stems, especially with bulbs or prennials which have delicate shoot tips.

Once you get everything established this will save a lot of time but you have to remember that oportunities for chopping and changing arrangements are limited. To break up the bland appearence of chippings while your plants are growing and during the winter I place some large stones/rocks of natural local material around the site. The alternative is to just add bark chips without the membrane.

As for plant ideas, I can only suggest that you look at some good catalogues or books which have a section on wildlife gardening. Some of my most successful plants for insects last year were Michaelmas Dasies, Sea Holly, Sedum, Cosmos and, of course, the birds loved all the berry producing shrubs.