Any potential problems creating raised rock garden in damp corner

Discussion in 'Alpine Gardening' started by strangeloop, Mar 20, 2020.

  1. strangeloop

    strangeloop Apprentice Gardener

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    I was going to start this thread by talking about a problem corner in the garden, but that sort of covers all of the corners at the moment. . .!

    There is one corner shown in the picture which is probably the dampest area of the garden - not entirely accidental, I was trying to slope the new lawn that way when I was spreading the earth. I was thinking of perhaps raising the earth up a bit there and planting marginal plants like lysimachia, or alternatively I thought of just going all-in and greating a bog garden. But, now I'm wondering - could I create a rock garden?

    IMG_20200308_160655.jpg

    I know that to create a rock garden you generally use a membrane and it's in a dry area, but I wondered if there would be anything wrong in creating one that was sufficiently raised - by arranging a reasonably deep pile of stones - that the damp beneath wouldn't matter, and wouldn't adversely affect e.g. alpines?

    I thought the advantages might be twofold:
    1 - I can effectively create a soakaway beneath the rocks by filling a hole with type 1 and gravel etc
    2 - the soakaway would be hidden beneath something that would hopefully look nice in what is currently not a very nice looking corner

    The side of the blue shed shown is south facing, though the brown fence casts a shadow so I thought, perhaps not enough light for alpine.

    In terms of the dampness it won't always be as bad as it is now, because the other neighbours are keen to sort the drainage out in the shared gravel driveway which is the saturated bottle neck at the moment.

    If this is really a no-go, any other thoughts on how to make this a nice little corner?

    I think perhaps what I should do is just create a thread of the various stages of the garden. I've made lots and lots of mistakes so at the very least might be helpful to other beginners to avoid some of them!

    Thanks again everyone.
     
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    • ricky101

      ricky101 Total Gardener

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      Hi,

      The things that stand out to me is the Sheds base and how clear of the water is it ?!

      What about the fences large double gates, would you need to open them ? the little tree(?) seems to be in the way already ?

      Rather than using lots of heavy stone would some simpler form of raised bed eg a log roll edging. have the same effect ?
       
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      • Sirius

        Sirius Total Gardener

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        Try and build some sort of raised bed.
        With plenty of gravel.
         
      • Cuttings

        Cuttings Super Gardener

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        Or you could plant damp soil loving plants Astilbe, Corydalis, Bamboo, pinks reds and whites of the Astilbe, blues and Yellows of the Corydalis, and the yellow, red and black bark of the bamboo, there are lots of other plants, sometimes its easier, to plant the right plants, than to change the soil,
         
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        • Mike Allen

          Mike Allen Total Gardener

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          Have I missed something here? At first view, the attraction is that puddle/mini pond. I have to admit. Never have I heard about using a membrane. Never mind. Just how much area is the rockery etc going to cover.

          Logrolls. I tried this when raising the level of my borders and edging the gravel pathways. Looked very nice. Twelve months later, the wire had rusted and snapped and th logs were now totally rotted. ( Be warned if you shop at B&Q).

          Personally I'd go for using rocks or even artificial stone work as the surrounding/retaining edge. Then as larger rocks are used, gradually sloping higher here and there. IMHO when building/making a rockery/rock garden. Aim for making it look natural. Copy some natural site, perhaps where you have visited.
           
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          • kindredspirit

            kindredspirit Gardening around a big Puddle. :)

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            008.JPG

            Here's one I did, keeping it 12" away from the wall. Absolutely no need for membrane. The height of the earth on top solves drainage problems.

            005.JPG
             
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