Hello! I hope someone can steer me to the right direction I have taken out sod to make room for more plants. I've attached a picture of the area I'm talking about.
My problem is the area is sloped a little bit and it backs to a fence. What are my choices so that the soil won't erode? What can I put at the back so that the soil will not touch the fence? Raising the bed will be one choice but I'm looking for more options...
Any ideas?
Aelana
Another view
Hi Aelana, Your problem with the slope is not a difficult as you might think and plants are a good way to help contain the soil movement as once the roots start to spread out, the soil is more settled to them,
To start with, I would begin with some climbers on the fence, you can go for roses ( need pruneing) but you can also grow a nice Clemetis to ramble through the roses so that the clemetis will give colour before the roses flower, at the same time or after if you choose a winter flowering clemetis, I have a yellow (April Shower rose with a deep purple clemetis both in flower together right now and it is quite stunning) there is a vast selection of both to choose from, or you could go for Honey Suckles, try get ones that give off a nice perfume as in the evening, your nose is drawn to that, but again, there are loads of climbing plants you could choose from, these will give you some hight and take away the starkness of the fence.
Once you have delt with the back of the border, you start to come forwards with either a mixture of shrubs and perennials, bulbs for summer/spring and even autumn, so that you have colour all year round.
I would back the border with different shrubs that are evergreen which keeps the flatness off the beds when everything has died down for winter, you could plant things like veriagated Holly maybe 2 but not too close, get a male and female, so you will also have red berries come winter, Acers are another good shrub as you can grow the ones with the cut like ornamental foliage, in greens, maroons and veriagated
Acer japonica 'aureum' has almost yellow/green colour, but choose the ones that are slow growing so that you can enjoy the colours at eye level for about 10/15 years befor they go to hight, you dont say what kind of soil you have, but if slight acis, or add peat and leaf mould, you can grow Rhododendrons for flowers from feb till june, again all colours and hights, they stay evergreen, Azalias the same, magnolias same, there are some lovely camelias also, none of these need ant pruneing at all, abis come in all sizes and shades of green. if you like perennials, you have a vast ammount to choose from, again depending on soil type, sun/shade etc, but some sugestionas are back, Delphiniuns, tall lupins Lily's (bulbs) then Aquilegias, achillea, Hostas, astilbe all colours, Paeonias, Dahlias, both these are tubers and will need winter mulch for frost protection, Bulbs like tulip, Daffs, I could go on, but without knowing your taste, I dont want to keep going and not the thing you are looking for.
Before you start, I would get your border shape first, by laying a hosepipe around the width you want, snake it into soft curvres rather than straight lines, then go indoors and look out at the shape so you can get a fuller picture as you may want to make it wider, narrower, more curve or less, (dont do tiny short curves or zigzag as they make it harder to mow the lawn, then when you are happy, cut along the turf to create the right shape, do this following the shape of the hosepipe, next you will have to dig, and as you do, add as much compost to the new bed as pos, this will allow you to set your plants right into the bed, what I always do is, from the back, lay out your plants, in there pots and move them about, ie, back, forward, further appart coloured foliage ect, till you are happy with them, then as you plant each one, dig the hole deeper and wider than the pot size, throw in some more compost AND plant food and get the plant into the hole, backfill and water it in, do all your plants this way till you have done, then really soak them all, you will have to water dailly till they get established as you are planting into soil that is dry with the goodness removed by the grass you had and no neutrients left, as for your climbers, stretch wires across your fence and nail them taught to it, then as your climbers grow out and up, you already have the wire in place to tie them along the fence as required, at the finnal stage, you can add mulch to help prevent moisture evaporation through the hot weather, but you still need to water, if you plant Roses on the fence, try to train then across the wire with a slightly downwards slope and tie them,like a fan, this helps the sap to flow acroos the stems and you get more flowers rather than all at the top, hope this is a help to you and gets you started, or go to your librery and look out for books on borders, planting and landscapeing, they are really helpfull with pictures of colour groupings so you can visulise the effect. good luck, WeeNel.
Just noted in your next thread, you said you had clay soil, this needs broken up by adding as much compost as you can lay your hands on and dig it well in to mix with the clay soil, someone above has told you how to test the structure for clay, by squeezing it into a ball and if stays in the shape, you have a lot of clay, if it really heavy clay, ie, when you dig, you will find it heavy on your spade, then add humus/compost as stated, if really hard to break up, add some fine grit also, clay soils stay cold for longer and hold a lot of moisture, and your plant roots cant get air/food, then in hot weather, they bake to a dry crust and rain/watering just runs off, I would test for structure of the soil as well as the clay content PH, from the picture, it looks like you have a mixture, but then again, you said you had to dig deep and move soil for your home, so you prob have a lot of SUB soil came to the surface which will have no benificial neutrients whats so ever so add loads as you dig in your humas/compost, it will be worth it to your plants in the end. what you are aiming for is a nice crumbley texture so air will get into the roots as well as neutrients. can your gov department or university do a test for you, worth a try.
WeeNel.
I wouldn't worry too much about that slope, once you get the plants in put some mulch down and I think it'll be fine.
Dear Aelana,
You could do as the other posts have suggested, that is add some compost like peatmoss etc to the clay soil.
I persoally had some triple - mix trucked in and rototilled it to mix with the clay soil you now have.
Triple mix can be purchased from your local garden supplier or some one who sells soil. It is a ready mix of garden soil , sand and peat moss. If you want you can add your own sand and peat moss but I find it easier to purchase the ready mix as it will buid up your beds by adding more soil.
I recently put a fence in simular to yours and put 2x6 pressure treated boards along the bottom of the fence on the ground. This strengthens the fence at the bottom and protects the boards from rotting. It also makes a good barrier where your fence might run along the grass and there is no garden area as the weed wacker will not cut into your fence.
Good Luck!
how did you get your grass like that?
I apologize for not responding sooner.
WeeNel, ecrane3 and Bobsplace, thank you for all your response. We're currently ammending the soil with compost and garden soil. We thought we could just do the tilling by hand but boy were we wrong! Though it's a small area, it's just too much for us (specially with a running toddler around). So we're renting a tiller this weekend and get it done. How long do you think should we wait before planting?
Bobsplace, I didn't know about triple mix. Had I known, I woud have buy them instead of the invidividual compost,garden soil... But thanks for the heads up :) I've told my hubby about the pressure boards, he said he'll look into it.
rhall2007, DH just fertilized it last April. I have to ask him what he used. Then we only mow once every other week.
WeeNel, thank you very much for all the excellent suggestions for the plants. I'll print your response and put them in my journal. Can I get back at you if I have questions? Thanks :)
I would think questions will be the last thing on your mind for a wee while Aelana, unless you need help with a sore back, Ha, Ha, Ha, good for you, going ahead, once you get your soil into a better condition, adding you compost etc, the fun can begin, once you have broken up your soil and you are happy that you can plant into it, with clay soils, it is best that you dont trample on it too much as for a while, you really want the air into it to help keep it good, use a board or something to get over ot while working on the back of your border, soon as you get your plants, just lay them out where you want them to grow, step bach and see that you are happy with them in situ (if you view your border from the house windows, go inside also to look at your new view, then just move them around in the pots till it looks good,once your happy, go ahead and plant them, as you do, dig the hole, add some feed, Blood, fish and bone is a good basic feed for new plants, and it is taken up by the plants faster, then in goes the plants, backfill the holes and give a good water, really soak them, and continue till you have them all in the ground, you will prob need to water almost every day/night till they get established, keep weeding or mulch after you plant, and then sit back and enjoy.
IF you plant trees or climbers, you shoul start supporting them right away, trees need a stake or pole in the planting hole, climbers need a frame/trellis or as I sugested before, wires strung (firmly to the back fence) if you buy a lot of plants all at the same time, give them a goos soak so the roots will be nice and wet for there new planting space, (if shrubs, I sit them in a childs paddle pool overnight to let them really soak up as much water as they can as they have been in pots for a long while to reach sale size, so happy gardening. ask any questions you need and either I will be able to help, or someone else will come into the thread. Good luck, WeeNel.
