Plants For New Garden

Thank you for the advice. I was thinking maybe to plant some bulbs / bare root plants, but was wondering how long on average from planting would it take to get blooms? Obviously depends on the flower but was hoping to plant this week maybe to sprout early summer? Any recommendations?

 

If you have a look around you should find gladioli, begonias, alliums, eucomis, polianthes, dahlias, crocosmias, lilies, cannas, alstromerias and agapanthus available online, in garden centres, supermarkets etc. All of these can be planted once the risk of frost has gone.
Dahlias will probably flower later in the summer and apapanthus can sulk after moving. Most will be in growth by early summer, flowers will be towards mid summer.
Lilies if planted now may flower early to mid summer.
Early summer in my garden can be a bit quiet on the flower front, will depend on your location, microclimate and the general weather.

 

Thank you for this. very useful information.

 

So I extended the Border to about a 1m yesterday and planted some shrubs in the border. Very tiring to say the least. The soil was very wet and the clay beneath the soil was clumpy with some Brown clumps.

I am going to order a garden fork for aerating the ground today but was wondering what you would recommend to put on the Borders / turf to improve drainage.

I also planted the shrubs around 35cm -40cm from the fence. Do you think that this would be enough distance generally for when they grow. Some shrubs have a spread of around 1m - 1.5m so I know more distance would have been ideal but wanted to plant perennials to the front of the border. I have attached some pictures for reference.

I also need to top up the borders by about 8 -10 cm of compost to replace the uprooted turf and soil.

 

Fabulous start, great job @Danny30

If the soil is heavy and mostly clay, the most important job now is to dig it over at least one spade deep, mixing in a lot of good stuff such as rotted manure, multi-purpose compost and some grit and sharp sand.

Wickes have good deals and they also deliver fairly cheaply.

It will thoroughly break your back, but will ensure healthy, thriving plants for the years to come. Take it easy though, a bit at a time.

My soil is very heavy clay so I had to actually remove not just the turf but about half a spade deep of the worst clumps to allow enough manure etc to go in. Now, 5 years after, the soil is totally transformed.

The shrubs are indeed a bit close to the fences, but that should be ok and might look very good indeed, fooling the eye to thing the spread continues further back. Depends on what shrubs you have- but if some feel to be in the wrong place, they can be moved.

Do you think you could take a further brick width off from the lawn and create a mowing strip? You need some kind of barrier between the border and the grass and a mowing strip is a blessing (that I don't have ).

I only have a thin edging thingy from a roll, it does the job to keep the two areas from mixing together but the plants in the border always lean over the edge, killing the grass below and making mowing a bit of a challenge. A neat row of bricks would be a bliss...

(picture from google)

 

Thank you very much for your advice. A lot more work to do for me

I would like to mix in manure if it makes such a difference but would like to do it without removing a layer of clay soil as I have nowhere to dispose of the soil. I already have a mound of turf that was removed yesterday with 2 other borders to widen adding to that.

As I have already removed a layer of turf and soil about 7cm+ or so deep needs, should I just mix in manure with the clay soil to replace the 7cm, or is that too much manure?

I do like the idea of a mowing strip and will look into it but don't want to spend too much at the moment so will try and find something affordable.

 

I purchased some Westland manure from Wickes and am now ready to lay and fork into the soil which I will do it when I have the time and energy. I noticed it still has a noticeable smell which I assumed mature manure was not meant to have. Is it definitely okay to mix with the shrubs (around 4 -5 cm deep on raked into soil), or should I wait until the smell dissipates?

 

If it's bagged stuff it will be ok to use as the rotting process has taken place.
It will have a smell but it shouldn't be a bad smell.

 

Any turf you have can be stacked, grass side down, and if possible for a year, when it will become nice friable soil which can go back on the beds next year.

 

Thanks, have done that with the one border I cleared so far but takes up so much space. May have to wheelbarrow it to the front of the house.

 

Can I please get some opinions from all you more experienced gardeners if the Border is now wide enough to grow shrubs and perennials? I have extended it to 1m (previously 60cm) with the intention to do the same for the back and left border with a curved edge towards the back.

 

Id be inclined to plant your shrubs and then as they grow you can take more grass out if you want to.
Gardening is not, get it right first time and then never change it, it evolves as the plants mature.
I'd go for it and sod the consequences.

 

Well said @pete !

@Danny30 , you already have the all important basic stuff right so enjoy this summer filling the borders with whatever you like and find. The area you dedicate to plants depends on your needs for the whole garden (football or play area requirements? Frequent big BBQ parties? ) and is likely to change over the time.

Next year you might well decide to change something or move a shrub or dig a pond... that's the joy of gardening.

Perhaps you would like to start a thread on your garden progress in Garden projects- section? It's great to follow the progress and compare before- and- after photos. Take a look on similar threads there, they make very inspiring reading.

 

Thank you Selleri, I guess I am just impatient and want to get the garden done too quickly.

That's a good idea. I will open a thread in the Garden projects section and try and keep it. updated

 

Hi all. Quick question. My garden is west (slightly south) facing so literally gets full sun however I have realised that the fences to the left and far garden border are all shaded due to the fences. I assume these would be in full sun as the sun continues to move further towards the middle of the garden as the days get longer. Would that count as part / full sun or do I need plants that grow in the shade?

Very frustrating as would have loved the borders to be completely unobscured.

(back and left border)



(back border)


(left border)