What are my next steps for this bed?

I need help and advice with a large flower bed. We moved in 2 years ago and this bed was largely sparse with a cramped cluster of plants at one end. Having discovered bindweed in the front corner I've cracked on with clearing the first half of the bed and I'm hoping someone can help me decide what to do next...

My challenges:

1. Bindweed in the front area - I've dug it up carefully, caught it early so I'm hoping (!) it won't be too problematic...
2. Rocks/rubble - previous owner was a builder and I am shifting a lot of rubble.
3. Dry poor quality soil
4. On quite a slope

What should I do next? Should I put a layer of mulch on it, or top it up with good quality soil? Any plant suggestions?

The bed runs in front of our house (sitting room and porch look onto it) and faces into a private front garden. The house faces north east. Ignore the power cable in the picture... previous owner decided to run an unarmoured cable through the middle of the bed... it will be moved!

Thank you in advance for your help!

Felicity

 

Hi @FelicityA - that sort of site can always be tricky, but the one thing I'd make sure of is getting on top of the bindweed. It will still reappear, but it's always good to be highly vigilant, even if you feel you've mastered it! Certainly try and get large pieces of rubble out if you can, but smaller rocks etc aren't as big a problem unless you were wanting to sow direct or similar, and needed a very fine tilth. Some bits will keep appearing as you plant the site, so just remove those as you go along.
If you can get rotted manure, that's the best additive for poor soil, regardless of what you want to eventually grow. If you add a really thick layer, it'll work it's way in over winter, and that means a better base for planting in spring and beyond. As the existing soil is poor and dry, you may want to wait until you've had some decent rainfall which will help too.
If you can also give a general idea of your location, and general climate, that will help with plant suggestions, because there are huge variations around the UK regarding hardiness etc - I'm guessing that's where you are though? The palm at the end suggests you may have a milder location, but there are one or two that are quite hardy ,so that could be misleading.
What you plant also depends on what you like or dislike, so spend a little time thinking about colours and whether you want something for all year round etc. As you have quite a few windows overlooking the site, you may want airy planting you can see through, and some low growing evergreen, or good seasonal plants/shrubs as well. Also, if you don't like the palm, don't feel guilty about taking it out either - it's your garden, so it has to suit you.
The good thing about that aspect is - the ground won't dry out just as readily as it would in a south facing one, and there are plenty of plants that like shadier conditions. Whites and pale colours are always good for that sort of aspect.

 

One suggestion - put a couple of slabs in front of the windows so that there's somewhere to stand without treading on the plants when you want to clean the windows.

The fuchsia looks happy so you could get more of those if you like them, maybe different varieties. Look for hardy ones not the bedding / hanging basket types.

 

I have a bed like that on the north side of my house with clay soil which I made from scratch. I dug in masses of compost from the garden centre, I had recently moved house so I didn't have any home made compost. But I'm in SW France so it gets sun in summer and it's warm. My cottage isn't very tall so the sun shines over the top. Does your bed get sun or is it always in the shade?

What you plant is dependant on sun/shade, dry/wet, type of soil, your local climate and your personal taste. We can give you lists of plants if we know those answers.

I wanted bright colours, herbaceous perennials.

 

I think there's a path along the back of the house @JennyJB - you can just see it in the 2nd pic, and presumably it links up with the bit at the side leading to the grass etc. I thought it was the top of the wall for the bed at first, but perhaps Felicity can confirm it or not. I can't see how you'd access the windows, or the rear wall of the property, easily if there wasn't a path of some kind.

Speaking of paths, it would probably be helpful to have something in the bed for access to plants and their maintenance @FelicityA . It wouldn't have to be fancy, but traversing the bed [ie side to side] is always the way to use a slope of any kind. Some simple stepping stones would do, or some edging stone/timber and filled with gravel or bark. Easy enough to do yourself rather than needing to pay someone to do a heftier job of some kind, and a single strip across the middle would probably be enough.
Alternatively, a small terrace built to divide it into a couple of beds would work, but that may be more expensive if you can't do it all yourself. You could have the wall/divider quite high, so that the top bed was then level with the grass, and you could access the plants from there. The planting at the top of the lower bed could be done from a path along the base of the wall -for the plants highest up [as well as the ones on the top level if the bed's wider ] and the path at the house would allow access to the bottom half of the bed.
I hope that makes sense! It all depends on the look you want though.

 

There's a slightly tropical look to that border with the existing planting. You could continue this look by adding some Phormiums or ornamental grasses which will help to bind the soil and they don't require much maintenance. I grow these on sloping borders, in shade and poor soil. I also have a large bank in my garden with a similar slope and poor soil. The original owner created a path running horizontally along the middle using large sandstone blocks. I have topped the path with bark, it is useful for accessing the areas above and below for weeding and pruning. Once you've eliminated the bindweed, I'd recommend ordering a delivery of winter mix compost to add on top of the soil as a mulch. Check locally for a suitable supplier. The weather and worms will help to incorporate it into the soil below over winter.

 

Thank you for your replies! Answers to your questions:

1. We're in the UK, Sussex near the sea - which means the soil is quite chalky.
2. The bed gets sun all day up until early/mid afternoon
3. There is a path that runs between the bed and the house, there are also 2 water butt's under the living room window
4. I was also planning a stepping stone path - it will help with gardening and my kids who like to take a shortcut to the water butt and retrieve balls from the flowerbed!
5. Our capacity for landscaping the bed isn't there so I think we'll stick with a sloping flowerbed.
6. I haven't figured out what to do with the palm... I'm inclined to dig it out as it's squashing so much else. Picture attached.

The fusia has done really well, as has lavender and heather. The heather and fusias I have had to dig out as they either had bind weed growing in them or were too close to the roots to be certain I'd got rid of the bind weed.

I'd love some evergreen shrubs in there and like the idea of some purple leaved ones next to greens to add a bit of colour variety. And then perennials... any plant suggestions are welcome!

How thick a layer of compost/rotted manure would you do? Would I be ok to do that in Sept/Oct?

 

As the bed is fairly empty you can dig in compost when you like but if you mulch it's best to do it when the soil is moist. I would mulch after planting.

The perennials I have in my bed are geraniums (Rozanne and a purple flowered one), a blue salvia nemorosa, campanula Kent Belle, Alstroemerias Indian Summer and Summer Breeze, a red oriental poppy, rudbeckia goldsturm, Fuchsia Mrs Popple, rose Super Trouper, achillea Paprika, Penstemon Garnet, Helenium Short and Sassy and a big pink peony that was growing in the lawn before I made the bed. There are also a few dahlias. Behind the bed there is a path with a wall supporting the bed, then my house. The bed is higher than the path. I've planted phlox subulata and aubretia to hang over the edge.

I call it my Jewel bed and I don't have shrubs in it, except for the fuchsia. I have another bed planted with shrubs, quite big as shrubs take up a lot of space.

 

Before you decide to dig out the palm, I suggest that you remove several of the lower leaves to reveal the trunk and make the canopy less dense. You can then decide whether you like it or not! They are expensive plants to buy and quite slow growing. Yours has done well considering its location.

 

I was just thinking the same @Plantminded! It also occurred to me that the palm is great for privacy from the neighbours windows so might well be worth keeping. Taking off the lower branches first to create a bare trunk would give Felicity a chance to see how she likes it before losing that privacy.

 

That was my thinking @lizzie27. I have tried to grow one here without success but in a previous garden it made a very attractive feature. One that size would cost well over £200.00 and take a good time to establish.

 

Thanks for that tip! I'll try that and see how it looks. It does have 2 separate trunks so I had wondered about removing one... I don't dislike it... it's all just a bit squashed. I'll start with your suggestion.

 

When you expose the two trunks @FelicityA it will look more like a palm. Take the fronds off right back to the trunk, then stand back to judge when to stop .

 

And the rest

Just mind the thorns on the leaf stalks, they are lethal.

 

Yes I discovered that when trying to retrieve a ball. Got one stuck in my forehead