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What to plant
treetop1948
Posts: 15
Hi folks, this my very first time on here. I have recently retired, so now have extra time on my hands to try and improve my gardening skills. (They need improving) lol.
Okay my first problem is I have a very heavy clay base down the one side of my garden and when it rains it seems to retain the water for a very long time ie waterlogged. I have in this area of my garden some salix trees which seem okay. Also I have some roses which seem okay also. But a Jasmine I put in last year seems to be struggling. I have a honeysuckle in there and a clematis, not sure if that's a good idea. My question is what can I do to improve drainage the cheapest way or what would be the best plants for these conditions?
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Hi Len. It's a common problem. There's no easy solution unless you want to grow bog plants or plants which like heavy wet conditions. Clematis and Jasmine certainly won't like sitting in wet soil for long periods.The usual method of dealing with sticky clay is to add plenty of organic matter - farmyard manure - to open up the soil, compost and grit, but this might not suit you. If you want to grow for the conditions look for some of the plants which like pond edges - ferns, astilbes, ligularias, caltha palustris, sedges (carex) aruncus, gunnera or darmera if you have room.There will be loads more
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
My whole garden is heavy clay. I dig in compost every year, and when I plant I use a mix of compost, sharp sand and some grit in the bottom for plants that like to be free draining. I have one large bed that I dug loads of concrete out from last year. Although it was a bit of a nightmare, there's a load of gravel and smaller bits left in there which helps to break up the clay a bit. If your bed is pure clay, I would buy a bag of cheap gravel (my local B&Q often sells off the ones with broken bags for a pound) and dig that in too. I find most plants are ok this way. Take the jasmine out and replant with the compost/sand/grit mix, see if that helps.
I grow peonies, daylilies, echinops, poppies, verbena bonariensis, erigeron, delphiniums, lysimachia, crocosmia in my front garden, they all seem to be happy in the clay. Although the back is a work in progress there's an escallonia, viburnum, there was a lot of pyracantha, ceanothus, daffodils and more crocosmia. Lemon Balm, portugese laurel, clematis and honeysuckle were all happy until I ripped them out. There's a spirea that's still happy as larry. It's an ongoing job to keep on improving clay, but it's worth it.
Thanks fairygirl, my garden is pretty large. by my standards anyway. I will have a look at what youv'e suggested I love colour and fragrance but not sure if I can achieve that in those conditions. By the way the other side of my garden is pretty good. The problem is the side that's heavy clay can be seen from my lounge, so that's the side we are looking at through the window.
Thanks Daisy, I will certainly look at these options. You mention escollonia, we have only been in the property 18 months. There wasn't a single plant in the garden when we moved in. We have spent hundreds of pounds so far. The first thing we bought was 8 escollonia plants that were approx 6" high. I put them in the boot of my car a planted them as soon as I got home, they are all now 5 feet tall. When they flowered last year when had every bee on the planet in the garden which was wonderful to see.
Clay soils are challenging for gardeners. The good news is that they are fertile. The bad news is their structure makes them unwilling to yield that fertility. They tend to become as hard as rock in the summer months but get waterlogged in heavy rain and winter. You can however improve the soil by digging in lots of horticultural grit (don't use builders sand) and organic matter such as composted bark, spent mushroom compost or mineralised straw. These are lighter than farmyard manure and will help to improve your soils structure and improve drainage rather than improve the soils nutrients level which will already be good. If you put effort into improving the structure of your soil so lots of plants will flourish especially your roses.
Sorry Scott, I am misreading what you are saying. Don't use builders sand or composted bark. But it's okay to use mushroom compost and mineralised straw is that correct.
I understand the problem well Len - living in Scotland, we have clay in abundance, a lot of rain and long winters so a good view from the window is vital! I'd improve it as much as possible and get some good structural shrubs in which will give you a background for other colourful specimens in front. If you have neutral to acid soil and enough depth to the area, rhodos, azaleas and pieris will give a good background and a bit of colour as well, and common old laurel will do the job too. Depending on the type of boundary you have, you could try making a raised bed so that you can grow a wider variety but that might be too much expense as you'd need a fair bit of soil and compost etc to fill it.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Also I forgot to mention all the spent compost from pots gets dug in as well. As Scott says, improving the structure will reap dividends. It may seem a drag but you just get into the habit of always thinking about it.
Don't use builders sand as it contains too much lime.
Don't use gravel that has been dredged up from under the sea as it will be too salty for your plants. Ensure you use horticultural grit instead.
Do use composted bark, spent mushroom compost or mineralised straw.
Thanks folks, I thought gardening was supposed to be theraputic. I can see me ending up in A & E lol.