new garden - deciding how to start!

You've certainly got things under way Sian. I'm not sure how the Philadelphus will do in a sandy soil, I've tried them twice in my garden and they just give up. Fingers crossed for yours.

 

gulp! doesn't sound too promising, Sheal. It is in probably the best soil I've found so far, at the end of the rhodedendron & azalea bed, so as you say, fingers crossed!

Following on from your comment, could you recommend some good scented plants for sandy soil? Simple flowers, that work well for bees and butterflies would be great :-) Even all my reference books are skewed towards different soil types! Tbh, the purchases this weekend were classic "impulse" buys, because they looked good healthy specimens, and were cheap . I know I need to sit down and plan, plan, plan for the new beds for next spring and autumn planting. I just wanted to get some colour and scent in!

 

Most bedding will do well in all kinds of soil, but obviously it's a bit late for that this year. I've grown Lavender (Perennial) in the past and will be doing so next year. Nicotiana has put on a good display for me this year and has a lovely perfume. Sedum (Ice plant) does well, again a perennial. All types of Hebe. Antirrhinum, the bees like these.

You say you want flowers, does that include shrubs. Buddleia will grow anywhere and butterflies love it, but it will need pruning hard every year. I planted 'Black Knight' last year and it's just starting to get under way.

It's amazing how your mind goes blank when you have to provide a list, leave it with me and I'll see what else I can come up with.

 

Ah-ha!!
Not a bad start then

- I've got lavender, buddleia and sedum sitting in pots, waiting to be found a permenant spot in the garden.
There are also some geranium sanguinium, rudbekia, echinacea, lychnis coronaria, a basic hardy geranium, a small-leaved euonymus, a hardy fuchsia, a dicentra spectabilis, some honeysuckle, as well as a selection of herbs....
The pile of seeds I have waiting to sow next spring include nicotiana, echinacea purpurea, antirrhinum, cheiranthus, monarda, eschscholtzia, and digitalis.

How do clematis and roses do in this soil, generally? And mallow? We have lots of field mallow coming up, so I was wondering about this as a burst of colour...

I know I need colour in the garden. Because of the high laurel hedges, and very old perimeter planting, I have a good back-drop of green, but there's very little other colour (don't get me wrong - I love a lush green grden!). We need some highlights, and something to stop it looking like a failed football pitch ("failed" because of the slope, and poor grass). Generally, I don't see the point of adding colour, unles you are also adding either scent and / or food for wildlife. I suppose I want value for money from my plants!

 

It sounds like you're well under way Sian. Sorry, I haven't got round to the list yet, home life has occupied me all day today, as it does!

Up until last year I'd had no success with Clematis on my sandy soil, they just curled up their toes and died, but my brother gave me a cutting from the clematis pictured in my avatar and so far it's doing okay and had a few blooms on it this year. I did give it a liquid feed a couple of times. If you're interested it's Clematis 'Macropetala' 'Wesselton'. The flowers are under three inches across and the underside of the petals are mauve. I have pictures of it if you'd like me to post them here.

I've been without roses for twenty years and have missed them, I've been digging a bed out for them for the last couple of weeks (rain is no help) and will dig in manure and compost, they are hungry plants and they need to get off to a good start, so putting them into an unfed bed would mean disaster. I see no reason why they shouldn't survive as long as they are nurtured.

Mallow is a large family of which for the last two years I have grown a dwarf variety, Lavatera 'Novella' as annuals, they are perfumed and grow to a height of about 2 to 2 1/2 feet. They've been very successful and didn't need feeding.




I think all gardens can be a challenge and with the 'green' already there for you, you now get to do the pretty part.

 

sorry Sheal, didn't mean to sound as if I'm pestering

We had fine drizzle for most of yesterday morning, so I got the buddleia planted into the bank, and also put my pot-grown rhubarb and corkscrew hazel in. I know that the rhubarb will struggle, but it is in a fairly "lush" part of the garden, and right next to the compost heap, so will be easy to regularly feed. It's also set into the bank a little, so if necessary, I can build a little retaining "wall" around it set into the slope, to increase the capacity for some good compost around its roots.
The hazel? Well, we've hazel trees everywhere in the garden (it's full of wild-planted hazels, cherries, silver birch, etc) This poor little specimen has been in a pot travelling with us for 10+ years, and has nearly given up on life. Freedom hasn't come a day too soon, and maybe a year too late. We'll find out next spring!
The next "victim" of our nomadic lifestyle is a corkscrew willow. I'll put this near the bottom of the bank below the patio later today. It's looking even worse for wear than the hazel, but normally has a couple of die-offs each season in its pot, so I'll give it a chance.

Photos to follow once the willow goes in, and the rain stops!

 

Damn, just caught up with this thread. If I'd have noticed it sooner, I would have suggested taking out a lot of the sand in your veg raised bed, (maybe 1ft or so?) before topping it up with some good 'stuff'. Hopefully, it'll work out

 

Hi Freddy, it's good to have somone else on board, I was beginning to think Sian and I had been deserted by everyone.

While you're around, can you suggest any shrubs/flowers for Sians sandy soil please?

 

Cor blimey, you're asking me? I have no experience whatsoever of these kind of conditions, and I'm more of a 'veggy' person. I would have thought though that plants that are used to dry conditions would be appropriate. Hydrangea's would probably do quite well as would Viburnum's. I guess one would have to add some feed at some point, and adding a mulch would probably be worthwhile. I'm not a 'plantsman', so maybe someone else could add more?

 

You're not pestering Sian, it's what GC's all about, we're here to help each other out.

Glad to here we're not the only ones suffering with the rain, it's been raining here since Sunday and of course tomorrow is going to be a sunny, dry day and I'll be shopping, typical!

I have a few more plants for you. Iris, Allium, Cistus, Cosmos, Penstemon and Papaver (oriental poppies). I have seeds for a deep pink Papaver with a frilly edge, if you would like some post your name and address on PM to me and I will send some to you.

 

Thanks Freddy, I'd forgotten you were mainly a veggie man. But Sian might need help with those down the line as well.

 

Thanks Freddy!

The raised bed has sides about 10" high. Where the bed is "cut" into the slope, I dug it out to about 12". The turf I used to plug any gaps between the chunks of wood. I didn't remove the rest of the turf, reckoning that a semi-permeable membrane of meagre grass and roots would help slow down the wash out of nutrients from the compost. So there is about 12" of pure compost in the raised bed, not mixed with the sand (I can't honestly grace it with the term "soil") at all.

I'm also delighted to announce the arrival of the first seed-leaves from the raddish and lambs-lettuce I've sown!

 

Boy did we have rain this morning - about 3" in an hour (I'd got tubs and buckets outside, and my wheelbarrow was half-full of water!). Both my dogs decided they could wait before their loo-break, thank you very much!

Ohhh - that's a lovely mix. I have a soft spot for Cistus, as it was one of my dad's favourite plants. Hubby doesn't see the point - I keep telling him if he was home from work before 7pm, he'd get to see the flowers!

Here are a few photos of patest progress

planting on the bank at the bottom of the garden


excuse the labels, but it's really hard to show the new plants. We've basically extended the fruit tree area by about 20 foot up the garden, and added to the row of soft fruit plants that I put in about a month ago...


You have to really squint to see them, but they're there, honest!

 

Yes I can see the dots, just! off to a good start.

I bet your dogs enjoy having a good rummage in the garden, are they setters?

 

ty Sheal.

Yes - the dogs love the garden. Our previous place had lots of undergrowth to rummage through. This place has about the same, but with a huge expanse of open ground as well! They are longhaired Weimaraners, but I can see why you think they could be setters, especially as it's my skinny, leggy male in front of the pair. He's a re-home, and I think the move brought back memories of when his previous owners seperated. This, coupled with all the extra sprinting up- and down-hill (hills are not common here in the Low Countries!) has meant he's looking thinner than normal.