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Choosing fruit and veg plot advice
NorthernJoe
Posts: 660
in Fruit & veg
We've moved into a house with a reasonable sized garden but it's steeply sloping and not well suited to fruit and veg growing as most books on the subject would advise you to do. It's a tale of two halves. Top half is a wildlife garden and bottom half is formal.
In the top half there are some big trees from leylandii that's possibly 30yo, a decent aged but not mature beech, yew, Holly, coppiced hazel, hawthorn, etc. This has shade, dappled partial shade and a bit of sun. It does have a carpet of wild garlic and bluebells (mostly Spanish or hybridised). I'm not sure it's suited for growing food but it has three fruit trees so could be an orchard. One is a conference pear but it's not doing well. The other two I am not 100% what fruit trees. I think possibly not apple or pear but something else.
Lower half is all paths with raised borders. In the borders there's various trees like camelia, Holly X2, ornamental conifers, yew trees/shrubs, box, several shrubs, hellebores, aqua legia I think I read told, numerous decorative plants, daffodils, wild garlic, bluebells and many things I have no idea what they are. The structure is gravel path up one side to the gate leading to the upper garden separated by a fence. Off this near the bottom steps up between the retaining walls holding the slope off the patio are two small lawns before the first row of borders. Then a horizontal, flat path running off this side path. Then border, path, border and fencing. Linking the horizontal paths are a mix of vertical up the slope grid paths and winding paths at the other end. Next to the fence is a summer house and to the bottom left is a greenhouse.
Sun comes from the front in the morning and moves round until the trees and slope cuts it out in the afternoon. The rear roof has enough sun to have solar panels but the sunny patch is mostly mid ornamental part and to the left side but away from the boundary.
There's quite a few little paths leading to nowhere other than into borders.
I'm thinking to the lower left just above the greenhouse there's a border that's really just bluebells and an apple tree. Above that there's a border with a seating area and a yew shrub/tree above it. This area gets reasonable levels of sun, is definitely protected, feels warmer than other areas, could be cleared for veg plot and has shrubs around it that don't shade but hides it. This last feature of that area is good because vegetables aren't the most ornamental. It's a shame to change the feel of the ornamental part completely turning it into a productive veg plot.
TL:DR
In the top half there are some big trees from leylandii that's possibly 30yo, a decent aged but not mature beech, yew, Holly, coppiced hazel, hawthorn, etc. This has shade, dappled partial shade and a bit of sun. It does have a carpet of wild garlic and bluebells (mostly Spanish or hybridised). I'm not sure it's suited for growing food but it has three fruit trees so could be an orchard. One is a conference pear but it's not doing well. The other two I am not 100% what fruit trees. I think possibly not apple or pear but something else.
Lower half is all paths with raised borders. In the borders there's various trees like camelia, Holly X2, ornamental conifers, yew trees/shrubs, box, several shrubs, hellebores, aqua legia I think I read told, numerous decorative plants, daffodils, wild garlic, bluebells and many things I have no idea what they are. The structure is gravel path up one side to the gate leading to the upper garden separated by a fence. Off this near the bottom steps up between the retaining walls holding the slope off the patio are two small lawns before the first row of borders. Then a horizontal, flat path running off this side path. Then border, path, border and fencing. Linking the horizontal paths are a mix of vertical up the slope grid paths and winding paths at the other end. Next to the fence is a summer house and to the bottom left is a greenhouse.
Sun comes from the front in the morning and moves round until the trees and slope cuts it out in the afternoon. The rear roof has enough sun to have solar panels but the sunny patch is mostly mid ornamental part and to the left side but away from the boundary.
There's quite a few little paths leading to nowhere other than into borders.
I'm thinking to the lower left just above the greenhouse there's a border that's really just bluebells and an apple tree. Above that there's a border with a seating area and a yew shrub/tree above it. This area gets reasonable levels of sun, is definitely protected, feels warmer than other areas, could be cleared for veg plot and has shrubs around it that don't shade but hides it. This last feature of that area is good because vegetables aren't the most ornamental. It's a shame to change the feel of the ornamental part completely turning it into a productive veg plot.
TL:DR
Half shady wildlife garden, half ornamental but 100% slope. Where and how to grow vegetables without changing the ornamental part and the wildlife part too much. One tucked away area of ornamental sections but with decent sun could be good enough but not a big area.
Location advice and plant advice needed.
BTW my idea is to interplant productive fruit and vegetable varieties that look good in among the ornamental borders. Runner beans on an obelisk frame with its green foliage and red flowers are kind of ornamental. Fruit trees have nice blossom (there's a medium tall conifer that needs cutting down as it's dead apart from the tip that's growing, this could be replaced with a fruit tree). The rest I have no idea.
Over to you good people. Ideas and plant suggestions gratefully received..
Location advice and plant advice needed.
BTW my idea is to interplant productive fruit and vegetable varieties that look good in among the ornamental borders. Runner beans on an obelisk frame with its green foliage and red flowers are kind of ornamental. Fruit trees have nice blossom (there's a medium tall conifer that needs cutting down as it's dead apart from the tip that's growing, this could be replaced with a fruit tree). The rest I have no idea.
Over to you good people. Ideas and plant suggestions gratefully received..
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Posts
I guess gooseberries are tolerant of sun and partial shade. Raspberries I think are from hedgerow or wood boundary plants. So partial shade could be ok for them. Perhaps a few clusters in the borders somewhere? Against the halfway fence.
Did I say gooseberries. Need them! I used to steal them from the bush from before I can remember apparently. Certainly before I was three my parents would have to stop me picking and eating them off the bush.
We're sick of supermarket fruit being nice one week and virtually inedible the text. Blueberries nice then bland the next week. Apples sweet one week then same variety from same supermarket are too sour to enjoy. It would be nice to grow our own fruit among the ornamental borders.
Mine are in big (deep) square planters in ericaceous compost. Not had to use tap water yet and they're loving life!
What about raspberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants? Would they need certain pH range in the soil?