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Plants for outdoor, low/no maintenance
timmy_butler
Posts: 5
in Plants
Hello I live by the seaside in Folkestone, Kent, and have a reasonably sized planting area outside our flat balcony. (See pic) I am interested in sprucing it up some more (I planted the current seeds last year), and want to continue/improve it. it has a lot of footfall past it.
Looking at spending less than £20 if possible. looking foreword to the suggestions. Thanks tim
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Posts
To be more specific, I'm looking at minimal tendering/watering potentially all year round. I am a real novice with plants.
Is it sunny? If so I would go for the minimalist scenario - alpines with a gravel topping. Looks good all year round and low maintenance.
Succulents would do well there
What about a seaside theme that's low maintenance. Since you are looking to a budget of £20.00, you can grow the following from seed. Erigeron Karvinskianus, Eryngium, the sea holly. Buy one of Festuca Glauca and one of Armeria Maritima, the sea thrift and divide them up. These plants shouldn't require too much care or watering. Plant in small groups to create an impact.
Thanks for your replies. What is an alpine? Succulent? Erigeron? Lol
ill google all the replies and plants and formulate a solution. is it required to buy bags of compost to help the soil?
Also the plants there at the moment are from a seed mix for outdoor plants. One would assume they only last the year and when they die off after the summer they won't come back next year?
excuse me, I do enjoy plants, gardening, but I have no one i know who enjoys and never learnt from anybody.
thanks and don't laugh! Lol
Also I forgot to mention that there is no drainage. It is probably about a 3/4 metre tall, maybe a tad shorter. It only gets water from the rain.
Had a google and alpines appear to like drainage, would this pose a problem?
just one problem, is the bed yours to plant?
with flats sometime the outside beds are not included with the flat, its the whole, freehold/leasehold problem.
You will need to check the type of soil you have in that area. The plant list I suggest would ideally be better if your soil is more free draining. You can add sand to it to help with that. Regards to the current plants, you could pull them up and start again, or leave them and see if anything has self-seeded.
Check your aspect. Find out which way this trough/ sink is facing. That also helps to determine which plants thrive best.
Hi. As some others have said - you need to note how much sun the plot receives so you can choose wisely. Seeds are always the best value - you could fill that with £10 of seeds and £10 on compost - however that will not give you an instant impact now. I would be inclined to clear a few spaces in the patch and pop a few plants, as budget allows - just to fill it out and give interest. If you go to a garden centre with your requirements (sunny, poor drainage etc.) they should be able to advise you - maybe giving you some freebies if you are lucky!
Annuals, like Summer bedding plants, will give instant colour but then they are gone. Look for perennials, which will come back each year. If you want low ground cover then sedums, alpines etc may be good, even hardy geraniums. If you fancy something taller - consider some grasses in the scheme. God luck - have fun - you might start to like it and get the gardening bug!