Suitable climber for oak sleeper trough

I am thinking of building an oak sleeper trough approximately 400mm deep x 5 m long. The trough will be sitting on a block pavior drive and lined with weed fabric to stop soil leaching out. There will be a trellis fence on one side of the trough against which I'd like an evergreen climber but I want to ensure the roots don't eventually penetrate through the weed fabric and between the paviors (I read in a building forum this has been known to happen).

I've thought of removing a few paviors beneath the trough to aid drainage but am afraid this may cause the sand, on which the paviors are seated, to be washed away. So, I'm proposing to just let the rainwater seep away to an adjacent French drain which takes normal driveway water - I could cut some weep holes in the bottom of the sleepers?

What evergreen climbers, preferably flowering, can I grow in 400mm depth with non-invasive roots?

Thanks

 

Hi Marnhullman, welcome to GC. Firstly, we'll need to know whereabouts you are in UK and what direction the trellis faces If it will get sun, then Trachelospermum (aka Rhyncospermum) would fit the bill. There are two species and lots of cultivars. White, jasmine-like flowers, or cream or mucky pink. Most are scented. Then there are variegated leaves and some cultivars' leaves go bright red in winter. It's a poppet of a plant!
If you're in the south, the options are broader, with Holboellia, Dregea, Akebia, Clematis armandii, cirrhosa or ternata.
If it's a shady spot, then Hydrangea petiolaris, Lonicera (Honeysuckle) or Hedera (Ivy) is your best bet.

 

We're in north Dorset. The trellis will be north facing although there will be a good deal of sun and the location will have a good deal of shelter.

Many thanks for the suggestions - very helpful.

 

Welcome to the forum @Marnhullman !

Evergreen Lonicera gets my vote, it tolerates both wet and draught, flowers well and is vigorous enough to give a good coverage in a year or two. Lonicera Henryi is a personal favourite. Lonicera is also an economical choice, cuttings root so easily that you will only really need one- two plants to start with.

Loniceras tend to get top heavy and bare legged with age, so some underplanting would look good.

Is the 400mm the horisontal width or height?

 

400mm would be the depth (height) of the trough.

Thanks for the planting suggestion.

I haven't yet decided to go ahead as I want to get assurance that my proposed construction method i.e. lining the trough with weed membrane and cutting some weep holes on the bottom edge of the wooden sleeper will allow water drainage but prevent soil leaching out and causing staining of the surrounding block paviors. Reasonably clean rain water from the trough should be okay as it should run to an adjacent French drain but significant soil contamination would not be okay as the paviors form a shared drive.

Any thoughts ideas appreciated.

 

Welcome
You may find that the oak timber itself releases tannins, which will stain. If I was to do this, I would .
!) Lift pavers and place a piece of membrane upon the sand.
2) Fill the 62mm gap with pebbles, pea shingle, or stone chippings.
3) Place trough on two runners 20x20mm in timber, to create a drip space from the drainage, which could be in the rear of the trough, hence retaining fine particles. You could put a layer of pebbles, pea shingle, or stone chippings to trap these, before you fill the trough.
4) To preserve the timber, you might treat with raw linseed oil* both inside and out, including all end grain/cut edges.

*can be obtained from horse feed merchants !, noting your rural location.
www.moleonline.com/mvf-linseed-oil-1053544?_$ja=tsid:~cid:18081332600~agid:~tid:~crid:~nw:x~rnd:9902373173671848887~dvc:c~adp:&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIssSTqe-sggMVRPDtCh0ciga4EAQYASABEgJPxPD_BwE

 

I get your idea but although I've referred to a trough I'd intended to just construct walls of sleepers with no solid base. The base would be the paviors. Not sure how I'd construct a suitable base which, although you suggest would sit on a couple of runners, implies there's a solid base in which, presumably, there'd be some drainage holes down into the pea shingle below?

If I were to lift some of the paviors, as you suggest, would the draining water from the trough/bed wash away the sand base from adjoining paviors?

 

Possibly, but unless the sand has somewhere to go, ie voids, probably not to a significant degree. An unknown is the q uality/density of the laid surfaces
Is the paved area sloping?
Depending on your need to water the container, the nett amount of rainfall will remain the same, hence the amount of percolation. Unless you open the paved area, by removing some paviors, a high percentage of rainfall/irrigation will surface flow if the sand between is saturated or mortared. A 'soak-away' beneath would be my preference.

 

Wouldn't lifting pavers cause a problem as the rest of them would start shifting? I thought they were laid with a hard edge of concrete to ensure nothing moved, so lifting a few would cause the others to 'relax' into the space. I must admit, I'd have a trough on a couple of supports so it didn't have drainage issues

 

Yes, oak sleepers would be expensive!

I'm going to look into getting some large ready made troughs instead which would, hopefully, be less expensive. We already have several small troughs and there doesn't seem to be a drainage problem so I think that's probably the way to go.

Thanks for all the feedback.