Ideas Needed - turning a 'field' back into a Garden...
FieldGarden
Posts: 4
I need a bit of input please to turn a rather tatty area into something pretty, here's a bit of background:
Prior to us buying our property the cows were grazed - for decades - right up to the door. So directly outside the main entrance door we have the following...
A (20deg clockwise) large approximately 8" raised teardrop shaped area of slightly sloping grass.
This is surrounded by a wide ex gravel pathway covered in thin layer of 'composed manure/soil' which grows grass and weeds (thistle/dock/nettles etc). The right side of 'teardrop' is bordered by a straight ditch.
The soil is (red) clay. It floods with surface water in the winter, and cracks in the summer.
The area goes directly out into a field (Orchard thereafter), no fence between.
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In the past I've tried planting directly the soil, nothing survives as any dug and composted bed created simply becomes a water filled patch in the Winter.
I feel the way forward is with stone/concrete raised beds but have no idea what shape to suit in with the surroundings, or where to place. We have plenty of the materials to make these from.
The property is a large rectangular house, with old stone outbuildings to the side.
Am in need of some advice re design, perhaps links to websites offering ideas etc?
Thanks.
Posts
Could you post some photos of the area, using the tree icon in the tool bar?
Hi Field garden, welcome to the site.
Our whole plot here was just a corner of the field at one time, very hard work but can be done. My dad did most of it on his own after he retired, not so good single handed though.
Some photos would be good.
Will you have access to plenty of well rotted farm yard manure?
That is the best stuff for turning clay into workable loam. Raised beds will help with drainage for shallow rooted plants. You have to be careful it doesn't form a pan of clay at the bottom which stops drainage. I am on a slope and the terraced veg beds contain very sandy soil with underlying clay. If it rains heavily, the rain goes straight through, hits the clay level,runs downhill and comes up in the greenhouse where it sits in a big puddle. The greenhouse frog likes it though.
I would spray any thistles ,docks or nettles with glyphosate now, assuming you get a dry day.
My entire garden is former cow pasture that came right up to the back and side walls of the house. It was all very boggy but, after centuries of natural fertiliser it is very fertile loam over a clay subsoil. The front garden was tarmac poured over cobbles to make parking for tractors and so on.
We got a man with a bulldozer to dig us out a pond for drainage and then he scooped and levelled and smoothed and harrowed so we have a flat terrace, path and working area behind the house and gently rising land to our boundary. We made a large grass area and planted a row of shrubs for wind shelter and then, a bit later, widened that to make a deep border for perennials, a woodland corner and a damp bed next to the terrace where drainage is poorest.
The same man came back a while later to move the earth in the last part behind the house and make us a level veggie plot with railway sleepers as retaining walls. We then made raised beds for our fruit and veggies.
You can plant things on clay soil but you need to fork it over first to break it up and lay on loads of well rotted compost and manure - preferably in autumn so the worms and frosts can work together to break it up. Come spring, lay on another thick layer of manure or compost and plant in that. The same would apply if you do make raised beds.
Here are some interesting plants that will cope with poorly drained, clay soil - eupatorium, filipendula, lysimachia ephemerum, vinca minor, sympitum ibericum and dalmera peltata. Have a look also at astilbes, Japanese anemones, hostas, astilboides, primulas, especially the candelabra forms, ligularia and hemerocallis. If you like grasses, try molinia and hakonechloa.
You don't mention the aspect or exposure which will also affect your plant choices but, as it is the approach to your main entrance, I suggest a raised bed of some sort using local stone or solid railway sleepers that will last and look good when weathered. Either way, you do need to break up the pan of clay at the bottom or you'll always have drainage problems. I agree with Fidget about spraying persistent weeds with deep roots too - now and maybe again in spring if they re-emerge as these things can be very persistent.
Ah, tree Icon - thanks, photos now attached:
1st photo shows the ditch to the right side (the bushes in the ditch are mostly Brambles, Sallow).
2nd photo shows what is left of the old track on upper/top left side of the grassed area (was a solid gravel path many many years ago), this track sits probably a good foot below the level of the 'teardrop' grassed area (to right). It leads to the Orchard.
3rd photo shows the ex gravel path around the left side of the 'teardrop'. We do spray regularly. The brown/yellow shading is where we've sprayed and the green is the new growth coming through or where not yet died back.
A good layer of stone will in due course be put down again around the exterior of the grassed area to recreate the path, but first would like to the get the design layout sorted and the raised beds made.
The area is at the bottom of the (slightly sloping) field so rainwater water will always naturally drain towards us. The grass is like concrete in the Summer (huge cracks appear), and very wet and soft underfoot in the Winter.
We have an endless supply of well rotted manure, machinery to move the ground if we decide to change the shape, and a lot of stone/concrete to build the raised beds with.
I have in the past tried planting flowering bushes directly in the ground (well manured / sand added beds) but because of the lack of drainage (clay) they flooded in the Winter and everything was lost. Raised beds (each about 18" in height) really are the only option.
As you can see, it's a very rural aspect. If I get this wrong then the raised beds will look very out of place. So, my problem is where to place the raised beds......
Thanks again for your time and input. All ideas appreciated.
obelixx, just seen your reply, very interesting, and thanks. Will take some of that on board.
The area is on the East side of the property. It's a sun trap in the Summer (the ground cracks up), and blows a gale in the Winter (with huge puddles). It is shielded on two sides by house and outbuildings. Tall trees to right side of ditch, open at the top to field, and then Orchard.
The size of area I am trying to design these raised beds into is roughly 50m x 50m.
What I would like to plant here in the main are flowering shrubs (we have another area for veg).
I can't really help you design your garden but here are photos of mine form 10 years ago when we'd not been at it for long. You can see the developing garden and the surrounding countryside to put it in context. Hope it helps formulate ideas for you - http://s211.photobucket.com/user/Obelixx_be/library/05%20Obelixx%20garden?sort=2&page=3
Here it is now, filled out and with windbreak fabric on the north and north west border to counteract increasingly stormy and destructive winds - http://s211.photobucket.com/user/Obelixx_be/library/150701%20garden?sort=9&page=1
obelixx - very nice!
Thanks for the links, one of those pictures gave me an idea as soon as I saw it. I will be looking at them again for more inspiration. Now I can make a start drawing it out as it gives me something to work from.
Really appreciate it, and thanks all for taking the time to reply to me.
Please keep any ideas/photos coming.
Pleased it helped. Have fun with the drawings and execution of your plan. Let us know how you get on.