Garden planting stage 1

I am getting to the point where I want to start planting up my garden. This is the area I want to concentrate on first and I will keep all my photos and progress reports together here. I'm sure I will be asking lots of questions along the way and any help suggestions will be gratefully received.



I have spent the last few days shovelling soil back into the area and trying to level it off. Several times I have forked it up and given the lumps a good bash to break them up. It looks a lot higher until you walk on it and it all gets compressed again. I would like to soil to be equally as high as the grass, as high the slabs, as high as the base to the summer house and high enough to cover the gaps under the cat cage footing. I have no idea whether any of these things are level with each other. On reflection the cat cage must be higher because it was built up to account for the tree roots.

I've had a break from shovellng and started a bit of planning. Everything is very rough at this stage.

The black post at the back represents the crab apple tree. It has been placed approx 6' from the back fence and 5' from the summer house. As the shape of that area is irregular I have no idea where I should put the tree for best effect.

I have measured the width of the front of the bed and stuck a green stick in the centre. On the ground are 3 crosses which represent the water feature barrel in the centre and a geum either side. The centre of the barrel is roughly in line with the other 2 sticks.

I'm not sure where I should take my view point to line things up. The angle this photo was taken from is not the view from the house or sitting on the patio. I don't want to plant things up that look right on the photo but strange from all other angles.

That is where I am at the moment. Help/suggestions would be appreciated



G.

 

I would plant it as you have described....viz., the crab where the black post is. The crab will absorb the shape of the area there. I would avoid planting to "balance" things too

 

This is where I am at the moment.


I have a slight issue with my water feature. It trips the power. It works perfectly well when the trip is bypassed. It used to work before. The cable has since been buried under the slabs. There would be no way of getting to it. If I can't fix it then I will have to look into getting a solar powered pump.


My geum is looking a bit flat and withered in the middle. Is that normal?

G.

 

Its not good practice to bypass the trip G please seek professional help.

 

Agree 100%, if it trips it means the cable and/or pump is electrically "leaking" / shorting , its a potential killer, so disconnect it now and get a complete new pump and cable.

Why pay for and use a safety device / trip if you bypass it ?

 

My crab apple tree is no longer a stick in a bucket.



G.

 

Today I've been looking at potential spring plants to fill the void between the barrel and the tree. I was wondering about wallflower. I saw apricot delight, fragrant star and Bowles mauve. On line I have looked at winter orchid.

If I clumped a few of these around the tree there should still be plenty of room for delphiniums or agastaches or whatever else I end up planting there.

Any thought would be appreciated.

G.

 

The geum looks a little wet Gary.....??? No need to water right now. A light granular feed would be good.
Wallflowers? Bowles Mauve is the best of the lot. Perennial, for 3 years or so anyway, nice blue foliage and flowers for months. Cuttings are easy too.
Delphiniums and agastaches! Delphiniums need reasonable moisture; agastaches less so, in fact thrive in dry sunny spots. If you want to associate these two, I would go for the dwarf types of delphiniums like Summer Blues which will flower almost continuously all summer. Summer Blues and agastache Tangerine, Raspberry Summer, etc., go well together.

 

The centre of the geum is looking rather brown. Should I cut these bits out or will they come back on their own?

G.

 

I wanted to get some Geums but all the ones I saw at the Malvern show and in GC up here appear to be spring flowering. Is there one that will flower from Spring through to Autumn?

 

Hi @luciusmaximus . I can't answer your question properly but I can share my experiences. I will need to fire up my pc to find my archived photos. Hopefully that will be at some point today but I can't promise anything.

The one featured in this week' gardeners world was Scarlet Tempest. They sell that locally. The colour is amazing.

I have Mrs Bradshaw and Totally Tangerine.

I'll come back when I have something to show.

G.

 

Gary, you can divide your geum and cut out all brown stems

Lucius, Totally Tangerine, been flowering here for 4 weeks or more, will flower all summer long. Just remove spent flower stems
I also have Firestorm that reputedly flowers all summer....lovely plant but this is its first summer here

 

I have found my photos. They are not as good as I would have hoped.

I bought the totally tangerine last September. It was a very healthy specimen and was also reduced in price.

I repotted the two halve and buried them in the garden for safe keeping.



In October it started blooming again.

My Mrs Bradshaw hasn't bloomed yet.


When it does it will be red.

G.

 

@Verdun I bought Geum ' Flames of Passion ' today ( I should be so lucky ), it says on label flowering time June until September. However, the garden centre have a slightly larger pot of the same flower and that label says flowering early Spring until early Summer .

Totally Tangerine appears to be unavailable up here. Looked in several GC's for it. I could buy online but run out of planting room now. I have space in front garden but not sure what to do it. Or how to do it.

 

Lucius, Totally Tangerine is more adaptable than most geums, is certainly the longest flowering variety....often flowers in winter here....and extremely economical. Only ever bought one plant a few years back but now have at least 8 or so large clumps around the garden.
Surprised you cannot obtain it .....I suggest you wait a while because GC's will stock it at some time. Flames of Passion is not something I grow but looks good