Advice please!

I have a tall (10ft) conifer hedging and theh ground surrounding it is rife with woody roots. there is an area near the hedge i would like to plant up like a border almost. It is partially shaded. What should i plant?? thanks

 

Hi Fruit and veg man,

Marley is right about the soil under conifers having no balls about it and and have the same issue myself, 8 conifers and dirty great leyllandii. So I presume my veg patch is out of the question there then! Differ slightly from above advice in that the one thing that gave me was a 100% weed free area-almost nothing could compete, so I personally wouldn`t put that much sheet down because it is a totally pointless exercise in my case.

I have added rotted manure, chicken poo pellets, compost , compost and yet more compost and all sorts of various concoctions but still find the real problem being the lack of moisture, with the conifers sucking everything up and practically no rain fall there and I don`t think woodruff will grow there, it is all over my garden except notably there. None of my bulbs came up this spring there. Soil tests show neutral soil. But still completely stumped. And would love any further ideas to improve the situation.

 

Hi again-sorry but I have just had my hand slapped-went out to double check and have a cordyline under the conifer furthest away from leyllandii which is obviously having a good time there, obtained it 2 yrs ago about 2ft high and is now 4/5 ft high so maybe something along those lines will do well under yours.

 

We have a similar 'problem area' here. I put a load of garden compost down in the autumn and planted some daffodils, which did quite well, as did some Foxglove seedlings. Surprisingly a small Philadelphus transplanted from the new Veg patch is coping quite nicely in a gap between 2 conifers, and also doing quite well are a couple of Euonymus. The Alchemilla I tried are struggling a bit, but some Nasturtiums are managing quite nicely and clambering up into the lower branches of the bushes.

Anthony

 

Hi Crofthouse-can I ask how far apart are those conifers with the philadephus between. I couldn`t get my foxgloves to work there and its the perfect spot-you lucky so and so.

 

They're not that far apart, claire - prob about 5 ft between the trunks with a gap of less than a foot between the greenery. The Philadelphus is set quite a way forward (maybe 3ft) from the trunks, and I dug in a depth of about 18ins of compost before planting it, but I'm still quite amazed that - so far - it is doing so well.
The foxgloves are a bit stunted, but still looked quite colourful up to a couple of weeks back.

Anthony

 

Hi Anthony and thanks. Mine are so close together they practically interlaced with each other, I can probably get about 4 ft inwards and it be fine there, I will copy you with the soil prep and give one of those a go. It really looks quite bare under them but if they come down I am staring right at a group of those tasteful orange new builds they decided to rip the back orchard up to build.

 

Lollipop, you could do what I have done in a similar situation. Lay grow bags down and plant your veg in them. That way they get the rain water first before the conifers. You can use the 70cl sacks instead of the normal grow bags that way you get that bit extra depth. All my veggies are doing well grown that way.

 

Cheers Moyra,

I had considered that inth e first year here but dismissed it as a pricey option, without (shamefacedly admiiting) pricing it up totally. I`ll have a quick shufty through google and have a think.

Thanks again

 

Here's Carol Klein's advice:
http://shopping.guardian.co.uk/household/story/0,,2053942,00.html
Of these I have succesfully tried Japanese anemones, and Brunnera 'Jack Frost'. My shade, being under a large yew, is almost constant.