Hi Everyone - the above is a pic of my raised circular shaded lawn. As you can see, the grass is a bit scrubby and covered in moss. The raised bed could be cleared out entirely and filled with whatever soil type/drainage layers would suit veggies or wildflowers - it all depends on whether the conifer shade would be an issue.
As it's raised, though a bit hard to see how raised, I don't think the conifer roots would be a big problem, but the shade would mean growing plants that grow in shade. You could remove all the grass, improve the soil with compost and well rotted manure then divide it into four sections, 2 in the shade bit and 2 in the sun. Use bricks or some sort of edging stones. Then plant each section differently eg brassicas in one sunny section, squash and sweetcorn in another, and veg that can manage with some shade in the others. Is the shady bit shady all the time? Here is a site about shade tolerant veg.
Thank you Busy-Lizzie - the list of shade tolerant veggies look excellent - I love Spinach, Kale and Lettuce and there are some wonderful herbs in there too. I shall make a start this year and see how I get on - many thanks for your help!
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Sorry Busy-Lizzie & everyone else, I appear to have hi-jacked Alison's post. I'll re-post.
My apologies.
My mistake too, I hadn't noticed the name change from Alison to Lorraine!
Hi Everyone - the above is a pic of my raised circular shaded lawn. As you can see, the grass is a bit scrubby and covered in moss. The raised bed could be cleared out entirely and filled with whatever soil type/drainage layers would suit veggies or wildflowers - it all depends on whether the conifer shade would be an issue.
As it's raised, though a bit hard to see how raised, I don't think the conifer roots would be a big problem, but the shade would mean growing plants that grow in shade. You could remove all the grass, improve the soil with compost and well rotted manure then divide it into four sections, 2 in the shade bit and 2 in the sun. Use bricks or some sort of edging stones. Then plant each section differently eg brassicas in one sunny section, squash and sweetcorn in another, and veg that can manage with some shade in the others. Is the shady bit shady all the time? Here is a site about shade tolerant veg.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/shade-tolerant-vegetables-zm0z11zsto.aspx#axzz2M32erc00
Thank you Busy-Lizzie - the list of shade tolerant veggies look excellent - I love Spinach, Kale and Lettuce and there are some wonderful herbs in there too. I shall make a start this year and see how I get on - many thanks for your help!