First time I've had a compliment on a wall! Thanks- it's several hundred years old and actually forms my kitchen and bathroom walls too!
What would you do with it? I've left a little bed, about 1m wide, but on a slope to about 40cm up the wall. I was thinking about sticking some rocks in it to maintain the slope, but not sure what to plant around them! Directly South facing too!
Try to avoid it looking like a currant bun. Better to have a proper retaining wall of some sort.
A natural wall is indeed a beautiful thing If you have the border planted up, you probably wouldn't need anything to retain it, but a row of matching rock or similar would be nice. Only problem is edging the grass when you have anything other than a straight finish to the edging. I've got setts, which were already here, along one of my borders. They might fit well, and you can get them quite easily
Interesting- I do actually have roughly a tonne of dry walling stone on the property- I did think about making some kind of small retaining wall at the boundary of the bed and the grass strip (no cement, only three blocks high)- perhaps only 10-20cm high.... I do like the idea of some thing colourful and creeping cascading over the top!
Wall envy here as well🙂 I'd train fruit trees / bushes against it and / or roses. Could look fab🙂
I have had to create a large garden from scratch and (in addition to growing from seed) found it useful to invest in a few large pot grown perennials which I was able to divide straight away to produce 3 or 4 smaller plants. After 2 or 3 years those small plants could themselves be divided.
You could also look at companies such as Haylofts which often offer very good bulk plug plant purchases. For example, I bought 20 plugs of 10 named hellebores for £20. Took a couple of years to flower but other plants such as hardy geraniums would be much quicker.
Annuals such as cosmos and dill, sown in spring, are easy to grow and will give large plants next summer while you wait for the perennials to bulk up.
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
If you make them three blocks high, you'd need to mortar them in. They'll get pushed over and also disappear a bit into the ground and become uneven. I only have one tier as an edging and they're mortared. I'm currently redoing some of them properly on a bed of concrete, as they've settled - been in place about 6 years. The ones on the end you can see are just on mortar, with mortar in the joints.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Your walls are indeed beautiful but I have lawn envy! My grass - ‘lawn’ it is not - is a rocky mix of boulders, gravel, weeds, couch grass and all sorts. One day...
I have used the natural stone that forms my terraced garden to face some raised beds and it does look good to use the same stone, so I would do that if you have the stone to spare.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Wall envy here too! I've made my garden from seeds and cuttings and can agree with @Fairygirl about not sowing seeds early, the packets will say February to March, I would take that as the end of March or even into April and I’m in Devon. You can use propagators and grow lights, but you still can’t plant them out until mid May, and by then you will have leggy weak plants. With the perennial and biennial garden you need to plan 2 years ahead all the time, so think this Spring what you will need for the following years. I love the seed growing part of it, it’s an achievement, so much better than buying something and plonking it in as well as the fact that one plant here or there would look a bit silly so I can grow ten for less than a pound, I’m a tight arse. 😀
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
If you want to do prairie type planting then Piet Oudolf is your man. Try and track down one of his books. But just beware when deciding on plants, that here in Scotland can be a bit tricky. Make sure you choose hardy varieties.
'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
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I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Orange line!
I have had to create a large garden from scratch and (in addition to growing from seed) found it useful to invest in a few large pot grown perennials which I was able to divide straight away to produce 3 or 4 smaller plants. After 2 or 3 years those small plants could themselves be divided.
You could also look at companies such as Haylofts which often offer very good bulk plug plant purchases. For example, I bought 20 plugs of 10 named hellebores for £20. Took a couple of years to flower but other plants such as hardy geraniums would be much quicker.
Annuals such as cosmos and dill, sown in spring, are easy to grow and will give large plants next summer while you wait for the perennials to bulk up.
I only have one tier as an edging and they're mortared. I'm currently redoing some of them properly on a bed of concrete, as they've settled - been in place about 6 years. The ones on the end you can see are just on mortar, with mortar in the joints.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have used the natural stone that forms my terraced garden to face some raised beds and it does look good to use the same stone, so I would do that if you have the stone to spare.
I've made my garden from seeds and cuttings and can agree with @Fairygirl about not sowing seeds early, the packets will say February to March, I would take that as the end of March or even into April and I’m in Devon.
You can use propagators and grow lights, but you still can’t plant them out until mid May, and by then you will have leggy weak plants.
With the perennial and biennial garden you need to plan 2 years ahead all the time, so think this Spring what you will need for the following years.
I love the seed growing part of it, it’s an achievement, so much better than buying something and plonking it in as well as the fact that one plant here or there would look a bit silly so I can grow ten for less than a pound, I’m a tight arse. 😀