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Suggestions for NW facing shady garden?

ManderMander Posts: 349
in Problem solving
What would you suggest for this front garden? It's split in two parts, with a hedge on the west side between us and the neighbours. It gets some sun in the afternoon, especially in the summer, but it's generally quite shady.

I have tried to plant various things over the years, but after clearing a lot of weeds and the roots of a dead shrub last year this is what I have been left with. The soil is a bit clay-ey and heavy but it's not too terrible. It is just bare mud at the moment though. 

Ideally I'd like to have an informal mix of things including some vegetables and maybe an evergreen ground cover in some spots. I don't want a lawn or anything I have to mow since it's such a small area, and I want to make sure the hedge is accessible for trimming. I have also been trying to encourage things to grow in the spaces between the stones in the little wall but haven't had much success. 

Last year I tried planting creeping thyme, miniature morning glories, marigolds, heather, French beans and runner beans, allium, some other mixed bulbs I can't remember, cyclamen, a mix of wildflower seeds. I already had Lady's Mantle and geraniums which seem to be indestructible. Most of the things I planted failed to grow although I got a single stunted morning glory and the runner beans eventually produced. The shrubs are happy but I am considering getting rid of the flowering currant and moving the quince to a less awkward place.

Suggestions? Remedial actions I should take? Other than tidying up all of last year's dead stuff, which I totally failed to do... 



Posts

  • PerkiPerki Posts: 2,527
    edited January 2021
    It doesn't look big enough to have both flowers and veg in my opinion you maybe able to squeeze some chard in are something I don't grow much veg. 

    I have a shaded area round the back in heavy soil and some are my favourite plants . Astrantia easy reliable look for Roma / Superstar plus many others - primula most will be fine I like Pulverulenta - Dicentra - Phlox - Ligualria - Rogersia - Hosta - more Geraniums - Heuchera - tiarella - aquelegia - Actaea - pulmonaria - some roses - Brunnera - thalictrums and many more I let you look through them first. 
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    Some of the plants you planted would have found it too shady, such as thyme. 
    Perki has said what I was going to say about plants. I would stick to flowers, if you want veg then I'd only go for different coloured lettuces which can look quite pretty. But when you start harvesting them the effect will disappear.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • ManderMander Posts: 349
    I'm imagining a kind of cottage garden effect with a few edible plants here and there amongst the other flowers and plants, rather than neat rows of vegetables. Using the vegetable plants as flowers that can be eaten, as it were. 
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    What about flowers that can be eaten? Such as pansies or nasturtiums? But nasturtiums prefer sun. Do you like chard? They can have different coloured stems, from white to red. Or herbs, parsley has pretty leaves.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • koyukanokoyukano Posts: 72
    I would say it would be perfectly fine to grow a mix of veg and flowers in, obviously you won't get a large yield of veg but perfectly fine. 

    I would consider taking out the bush/small tree to the front right side of your picture as this would shade out a lot of the garden when ymthe garden would get a little bit of son which would be in the evening.


    You could maybe try some alpine strawberries, rhubarb as a main focal plant in the middle?, lettuces, maybe spring onions?

    I think it needs tidying up a bit and then making a good plan rather than a have a go and see approach, maybe some raised beds to raise the height as the height of the soil compared to the walls around it will also cause shade so raising the height of the soil might help things to grow better.

    Hope that helps and good luck with it! 
  • Cambridgerose12Cambridgerose12 Posts: 1,134
    It looks to me as if the soil is quite compacted, so if it were mine the first thing I'd do would be to spread on several inches of organic material and dig/fork it in thoroughly. If, when you dig down, the subsoil is also compacted, then you might have to break that up before planting shrubs or anything like that. Those conditions will also affect herbs and vegetables, as very few will tolerate conditions like that as well as shade (mint will, but is rampageous). You could however get a lovely effect from a mix of plants like the following:
    Dryopteris filix-mas, Lamprocapnos spectabilis 'Alba', Helleborus x orientalis, Epimedium (at least the tougher varieties), Carex comans 'Bronze Form', Arum italicum. Others to consider include Solomon's Seal, lily-of-the-valley, Geraniums such as G. sylvaticum or G. 'Lily Lovell'.

    If you wanted to pop in some shrubs, how about Sarcococca, and the shrubby form of ivy (e.g. Hedera 'Ice Cream').
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