New Bed

Ok.Advice & help needed. New bed created on west side of south facing garden next to fence which is next to hedgerow which is next to road. Sandy soil. Yet to measure dimensions long & thin with wide curves at either end.Want to avoid random enthusiastic planting of stuff given & bought on impulse in new bed too close together that I did in last garden. Want quick growing shrubs ideally to act as physical & noise screen from road. Have a pink/purple/cottage garden fluffy tendancy & need guidance. Like Philadelphus, Ribes, Viburnam,Weigela, Cornus, Buddleia, Spiraea.In the perennial dept like lupins,delphiniums,geraniums,pulmonaria,bergamot & potentilla but would welcome any ideas. Oil tank needs screening. Trellis & climber or just evergreen shrub in front? Have a notion to plant pyracantha hedge to hide hideous iron fence & gate, would that work? Exciting but daunting. Am impulsive so really having to engage self control to get this garden right

 

Hedge? iron fence?

Hi,
Ive read your interesting request and the first few things to think about is as follows,
(1) The hedge, this hedge is close to and will be part of the bedding area only devided by the fencing,

Now ive seen this problem many times before and the problem is this,
the hedge is something people dont as the norm ever think about when it comes to food & feeding,

Now the hedge will take what ever food it can get and the hedge roots dont know about fences etc,

So its worth thinking about this when your going to plant or sow anything!
because if you dont you may find what ever you plant /sow looks sickly due to the hedge taking a lot of the feed from the near soil area.

(2) The iron frence area, these really can be used as a feature, ie with light in the ground pointing towards the metal fencing "what a place for a statue on its own concrete block looking onto that bedding area ?

Or if you really want to hide the fence photinia red robin always looks good all through the year and you can still do the statue in front of the photinia with lights glowing nice and softly in the evening?

(3) The oil storage unit,
Im thinking you'd need to be able to get this filled from we're its sitting?

Why not have a nice trellis house with a pointed roof on it and on the highest poit of the roof a nice copper wind direction (could be a cock, cat what ever takes your fancy)
And then have honey suckle climbing all up & around the trellis house?
The smell of an evening really is worth while, or paint each side a different colour, you can even use mirror's to make the area look larger?

I would think about using box for the edges of this area, they can be kept nice and trim, and add that end of the bedding area & start of the path area,

The rest of the soil area is again what you like and what time you have to service such an area?
Are you a perfume smelling garden person? OR would you rather have something that flowers from the spring non stop to the first frost?

Think about theflowering timesof any flowers you intend to use, ie as one colour fades you want the next flower tobe opening out to continue the colour display all summer, regular visits to a good garden centre will have on display the next flowers to flower,

Rose's say it all, as do fuchsias, geraniums,(tagets, these really do last all summer)

But dont forget the winter, dogwood, nothing looks more colourful than the red of the dogwood against the pure white snow of a winters day,

you could even go a stage further and have a miniture fur tree, christmas looks more christmisty when the outdoor front bedding area has lights telling the world "its christmas time & we live here"

Well thats a few thoughts for you to think about, let us know what you think.:grouphug:

 

Thanks Moonraker. A statue! Hadn't thought of anything like that, will certainly give it some thought. It would be seen from the road & the house so would be a talking poit. I think light in the ground would be too advanced. Couldn't get my head round that one.

The iron face & gates are the source of much merriment. They would look fine in a grander place but mine is a semi on a trunk road. Having said that they are great security for the dogs & me come to that. They were installed by the previous owners. I don't know Photinia but have looked it up & it is a deciduous tree that can reach 15'. Too big & I'm thinking evergreen.

Hadn't thought of scent. Yes I love scent & love roses too.

They fill the tank from a ladder on the palace gates from the road. The trellis house with a weather vane sounds fun. Like that idea.

Great suggestions, thank you

 

poit=point & face =fence!!

 

Hi "again",
Just a quick one to help out , The lights are the very easy bit, they are solar and come with battery's and a little plastic stake, all you do is push the stake into the ground and point the light head upwards just infront of the statue and it lights the statues face and upper body up, you can put one or two of these lights in front of the trees "again" these give a dim light and the trees look really romantic, dead easy to do and just go on all year round

REF THE PHOTINIA,
ive got them and i trim them twice a year, i keep them 5feet hight, great wind break and add that private touch.

 

I had exactly this problem at my last house. I dug a bed alongside a leylandii hedge (which I didn't plant). For a few years I struggled to get anything to grow well there. I also had a bindweed problem there, which sounds unrelated, but bear with me.

One year I decided I'd had enough of fighting against the conditions, so instead of fighting a losing battle for another year, I took drastic action. Repeat spraying of the bed with roundup to eradicate the bindweed. Then I dug the whole bed out to a depth of about 3ft (I did this all by hand, on my own I should add, the bed was about 5ft wide by about 30ft long, imagine excavating that by hand to a depth of about 3ft). My goal was to get a physical barrier in to slow down the progress of bindweed invading from next door's neglected garden.

Realising I could kill two birds with one stone (no actual birds were harmed in the making of this garden), I decided to chop out every leylandii root I encountered as I dug. Now I don't recommend that if you care about the hedge, but I hated the leylandii hedge. I knew it wouldn't die, figuring it will just have to look in next doors neglected garden for its water and nutrients.

I laid a barrier of that weed fabric stuff in the trench, and up the side at the boundary. The kind that allows water to pass freely. I knew it wasn't tough enough to be impassible, but figured it would slow down roots trying to pass.

I then back filled the trench, mixing the existing soil with a whole bucket of chicken poo pellets, and then working some well rotted manure into the top 6 or so inches.

After that, I managed to grow all sorts in there with no bother. The hedge survived. All the flowers grew and blossomed, and in fact I had to dig some plants out due to unexpected overcrowding after some things did better than I dared hope.

We moved out the following year, for totally unrelated reasons

 

This is really helpful Clueless. I must admit I had/have concerns about the effect of the hedge as the grass was poorer on that side but the screening potential & my trust in the bloke who proposed it meant I went with it. He used a mechanical digger to produce the bed & the dug bed is littered with roots he has severed. He is proposing to put Weedox 70 down. I had no idea what this was & have just Googled it & it's a weed suppressing membrane. I am in awe of you doing this by hand. I physically couldn't have achieved this even if I had the time. The wisdom of age means I know my limitations. What this guy achieved with his digger in a morning I could never have done. Feeling more confident now. What did you plant Clueless?

 

Cor wish I had that machine this week, I am doing it the clueless way, but just 2' deep, managed the first 3' today only 17' left to go before back to work on Saturday
Anoying thing is it has to be done now, I retire in April and will have all the time in the world (knowing my luck and past history I will drop dead the minute I clock out :-) I have to do it now so I can get some produce in and not be late like last year

Good luck with your venture looks good

Jack McH