Please help me plan new borders- beginner...
LisaL
Posts: 12
I have hopefully attached a few photos. They are of the back of the garden which is roughly 7m long and 8m wide. The left hand wall is south-ish so behind that drystone wall is very shady (and dry due to overgrown yew trees on the other side of the wall. The grass doesn't grow that well there either.
Their is normally a rotary dryer in the middle of the grass in summer. The right side border and right side of the back gets a fair bit of sun in summer.
The bottom of the left hand border gets some sun for a couple of hours before it goes behind the trees. The whole thing is relative sheltered. There is a Kerria japonica in the wider square at the bottom of the left side.
In the shady left border I have some ferns, pulmonaria and brunerra that do well.
I would like to extend the borders and get rid of some grass this year- I can't get rid of it completely as we have a dog.
I was thinking of making the borders follow a much more curved/circular area- so maybe making the grass more circular centrally and the left border being much wider at the bottom (where it gets a little sun and being overall wider as it sweeps up.
What sort of plants should I put in the shady areas, and then the sunnier parts?
I planted a Salvia hotlips at the woodshed a couple of years ago and that did really well but I think I will try and move it back at the side of the woodshed as it is a bit big for where it is.
I often buy random plants and put them in but would love to plan this out a little more over the next few months and make a better job of it.
Can anyone give me any pointers or help please? Thank you
Their is normally a rotary dryer in the middle of the grass in summer. The right side border and right side of the back gets a fair bit of sun in summer.
The bottom of the left hand border gets some sun for a couple of hours before it goes behind the trees. The whole thing is relative sheltered. There is a Kerria japonica in the wider square at the bottom of the left side.
In the shady left border I have some ferns, pulmonaria and brunerra that do well.
I would like to extend the borders and get rid of some grass this year- I can't get rid of it completely as we have a dog.
I was thinking of making the borders follow a much more curved/circular area- so maybe making the grass more circular centrally and the left border being much wider at the bottom (where it gets a little sun and being overall wider as it sweeps up.
What sort of plants should I put in the shady areas, and then the sunnier parts?
I planted a Salvia hotlips at the woodshed a couple of years ago and that did really well but I think I will try and move it back at the side of the woodshed as it is a bit big for where it is.
I often buy random plants and put them in but would love to plan this out a little more over the next few months and make a better job of it.
Can anyone give me any pointers or help please? Thank you
0
Posts
First of all, what you can grow well depends a great deal on where you are as that affects light levels thru the year and also temperatures and rainfall. secondly, it depends on what kind of soil you have - acid, neutral or alkaline then sandy, loamy, stony, clay so we need to know your rough location and the soil please.
Is that yew hedge yours or your neighbours and can it perhaps be trimmed? Yew does respond well to pruning and will grow back healthy and beautiful if it's done well.
One important thing in a small garden is not to fill it with bitty, dotty plants. You need one or two large ones to make it look more balanced and groups of others planted in 3s, 5s or 7s so they don't get lost.
Have a look at this info here - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/design and here - https://www.gardendesign.com/small/ for design pointers and think about your preferred colours, if any, your pet hates, if any and also how much time you have to spend on the garden.
Pinterest is a good source of ideas too - https://www.google.co.uk/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNRaHGzC-fRQETtRyv0VoA9QASHSAA:1580898800927&q=small+garden+ideas+pinterest&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGytH7mrrnAhWI3YUKHTYtA7QQsAR6BAgKEAE&biw=1280&bih=606
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
I am in Peak District so Midlands roughly. I think the soil is quite clay like. There are also quite a lot of roots. We are on the border of the gritstone/limestone area.
The trees next door hopefully will get taken back but the property is empty and up for sale. It is a massive place and will likely be redeveloped into smaller dwellings or turned into a b and b.
I will try and check the pH after work.
I have been trimming back the over hanging yew as much as possible and filled the greenbin with off cuts on Sunday so will do more when that is emptied. The other empty property also has a horrible Leylandi row on the other side which has shot up about 8 foot over the last couple of years since I moved in and now blocks my beautiful view of the hills from our windows. Hopefully that will go when it is sold too.
Thank you for your input, I shall check out the links.
When I am home in daylight I will try and check the pH.
While I agree that plants planted in 3s, 5s and 7s look good in large borders it is not always practical for smaller gardens. Also can get expensive. You can always divide the plants later when they get big. In a shady border I would try to make the most of leaf sizes, colours and textures using plants like hostas, Brunnera (especially the silvery leaved ones like Jack Frost), ferns (if the soil is dry you can use Dryopteris), Heuchera, Tiarella, Astilbe (if the soil is moist), a not too invasive Lamium like Beacon Silver, Aquilegias, Epimediums and the neater sorts of autumn anemone.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
I am keeping a circle of grass for the dog and washing line. We sit out on a sunny south facing terrace at the side.
We then went to the garden centre and bought a few reduced shrubs which will hopefully be OK in spring. I'm not planting them in yet until we have planned a bit more. I have also moved the Salvia hotlips to a better position.
Everything is now battoned down for the winds tomorrow!
Once the storm is safely past I advise getting your new shrubs in teh ground asap so their roots can go and explore and establish themselves while it's still cool and damp.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Most of the turf is upside down in the back left corner where I had a pile of rocks that had previously been dug out from another area.
I've got some more roots to dig out the left side and then need to go and get plants