Zero experience and have a really basic question about soil

lol at painting them white. As a newbie to gardening what I meant was the garden is east facing but many things require full sun. I know the front of the kerb will get a lot of sun in summer and the back will be shaded due to the shadow from the fence. At noon the house will also form shadow and while I’m matching shade loving plants to the far right of the garden and semi shade tolerant in the middle and full sun on the left I just don’t know my exact garden shade lines to work out the happiness of each plant for each location! Perhaps I’m overthinking it!

 

Probably, but we are all guilty of that at times ..

East facing means you will get a good bit of summer sun from 6am to noon, so unless its a plant that needs massive amouts of Full sun then would not worry too much, give them a go as there are so many other factors that affect how a plant will grow, each location is different.

From a garden "experts" site -
" Full Sun

For a planting location to be considered "full sun," it does not necessarily need to be in direct sunlight for all the hours of daylight.
A garden site is considered full sun as long as it gets at least 6 full hours of direct sunlight on most days. "

 

Thank you - that’s really helpful. So as per my original question some of my plants like poor soil and while I’m really keen on adding cardboard to our lawn and then putting compost on top, my husband thinks that it will stand too proud above the kerb if we try and do that (as the grass goes up to the kerb currently) and that it will take too long to decompose ready to plant in a few months time. I worry that replacing the soil I have is expensive and the plants/seeds I’ve bought work well with (or tolerate) the chalk soil so it may cause more issues and may be too rich for some plants. My husband is worried that I’ll spend 2 years growing plants and the soil won’t be good enough or contain enough nutrients if we don’t replace it. Can I ask what you would do? I thought gardening would de-stress me!!

 

Hi,

Well being stuck at home , your thoughts can go overboard, think many of us are suffering like that atm !

To answer your questions, well this is our take, though others may suggest differently.

First, as to digging out and replacing your soil, really not necessary, money and time down the drain, imho.

Using a covering is a good method to rid the grass but it might be June or July before its effective so way too late to get any planting done for a display this year.

Would suggest you use a glyphosate weedkiller like Roundup on the grass, its quick acting, only affects the plants, not the soil.
As well as the grass it should catch many of the weeds that are bound to be in there.

Once its died off, say a week, if the ground is reasonable, not too wet, then steadily, over several days, dig it over , incorperating your compost and manure etc.

By late March onwards weather permitting, you can start planting out, and as you dig a pocket for each plant add /mix in a small amount of Fish Blood and Bone fertilizer.
That should last for several months, though you could use a Seaweed general tonic /fertilizer later in the year. Both FB&B and SW are organic if thats key for you.

Any seeds should be started off indoors or direct into the soil as instructed on the packet, do not add fertilizer to their soil has its too strong for young seedling.

In subsequent years each Spring you just add a top dressing of compost/manure and some more FB&B which will be all the nutrients they need.

hth ..?

 

That’s a great help thank you - much appreciated. Will the weed killer be harmful to ground dwelling bees if it gets dug into the soil once it kills the grass and weeds do you know?

 

Hi,

Only used Roundup on driveway weeds etc, but if you look up the datasheets its clear that it only affects the plants and as its only applied in a slight spray the soil is not drenched so unlikey to reach any inhabitants.
As stated its inactivated once it hits any soil.

While perhaps not the most friendly product its probably the least harmful of those you can get to act as a total plant killer, the alternatives are just manual removal, a long and hard job.

 

That’s so kind of you to provide supporting documentation- apologies I didn’t mean for you to have to go to this trouble - but it sets my mind at rest so I’m very appreciative xx

 

No problem, hope it helps.

One thing, if you are looking to attract bees, we usually have a good few Dwarf Dahlias in the garden and the bumble bees love them, dozens always on them, though sadly we only see the odd honey bee each year despite plenty of other flowers in the garden.

You can easily raise Dahlia from seed, though cannot be planted out until the frosts have gone or you can buy garden ready plug plants.
Go for whats called the single or semi double type as their stamens are open to the bees, unlike the ball / pom pom types.
They are prolific flowerers if you deadhead and they carry on into Autumn/ first frosts.

 

Thanks Ricky - I’d been looking at those as it happens I can’t wait for my garden to be up and running for the bees!! Really appreciate the help/advice.

 

If you want to attract bees then Our best bet would be to go for lavender, thyme, allium and sunflowers. And of course every kind of fruit-tree but that seems to be overkill.
Raspberries and blackberries also attract them like crazy.

 

I’m going for the whole deal LOL

 

Oh and one thing I learned the hard way - bees don't care for tulips....
But if you can get your hand on the "botanical" or wild type a lot of bulb based plants suddenly get very interesting